436 

T37 


CALIFORNIA         \. 
SAN  ^lEGO         J 


r_  ARV 

UN/VERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SAN  DIEGQ 
LA  JOLLA,  CALIFORNIA 

SIX   SPEECHES 


WITH  A 


SKETCH    OF    THE    LIFE 


OF 


HON.  ELI  THAYER. 


BOSTON: 
BROWN    AND    TAGGARD. 

1860. 

Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  I860,  by  Brown  &  Taggard,  in  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


SIX  SPEECHES      T37 


OP 


HON.  ELI  THAYER. 


["  Welcome  evermore  to  gods  and  men," 
says  Emerson,  "  is  the  self-helping  man.  For 
him  all  doors  are  flung  wide ;  him  all  tongues 
greet,  all  honors  crown,  all  eyes  follow  with 
desire." 

He  who  shows  that  he  can  do  without  our 
help,  is  exactly  the  man  whose  help  we  can- 
not do  without.  The  self-helper  helps  all  the 
rest,  because  he  shows  them  of  what  they  are 
capable.  When  the  virgin  soil  of  Kansas 
was  given  over  to  the  foul  embrace  of  slavery, 
and  they  who  might  have  saved  it  desponded 
when  they  should  have  done  nothing  but 
labor,  one  man,  with  no  public  record  hither- 
to, applied  his  quick  brain  to  the  problem, 
and  his  stout  heart  to  the  work, — and  straight- 
way the  thing  despaired  of  was  done  !  That 
man  was  ELI  THAYKU,  of  Massachusetts. 
The  struggle  between  free  and  slave  labor 
was  protracted  far  beyond  the  necessary  limit, 
and  was  likely,  at  last,  to  be  decided  in  favor 
of  slavery.  Not  that  the  latter  really  posses- 
sed larger  power,  but  it  happened  that  it  was 
already  on  the  ground,  was  familiar  with  the 
field,  could  cope  successfully  with  frontier  ob- 
stacles, and  enjoyed  the  strong  prestige  of 
never  yet  having  been  beaten  in  such  an  en- 
counter. It  bade  fair,  at  that  time,  to  worry 
Freedom  out,  and  the  field  had  already  been 
virtually  abandoned  by  the  friends  of  the  lat- 
ter, who  were  retiring  in  a  sullen  and  angry 
mood  from  the  conflict.  All  that  was  needed, 
at  that  particular  crisis,  was  organization. 
The  Free-State  men  were  secretly  conscious 
of  their  superior  strength,  yet  knew  not  how 
to  wield  it.  The  right  elements  were  to  be 
had,  but  the  master  spirit  was  wanting,  who 
should  skilfully  combine  them.  And,  just  at 
the  right  moment,  that  spirit  stepped  forth, 


—  a  new  man  to  the  masses,  but  himself 
thoroughly  conscious  of  the  power  he  held  in 
his  hand. 

That  man  was  ELI  THAYER,  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  his  secret  was  ORGANIZED  EMI- 
GRATION. Nobody,  apparently,  had  thought 
of  it, — the  simplest  thing  in  the  world.  And 
yet  it  was  like  a  new  discovery  in  the  social 
development  of  the  century,  whose  influence 
is  to  work  until  the  whole  earth  is  colonized, 
and  the  dreams  of  universal  brotherhood  are 
finally  made  real.  For  by  this  single  agency 
all  uninhabited  quarters  of  the  globe  are 
capable  of  smiling  with  the  presence  of  a 
dense  population.  The  work  of  the  lonely 
pioneer  has  come  to  an  end.  We  shall  call  on 
no  more  solitary  hunters,  like  Daniel  Boone, 
to  wander  forth  from  the  extreme  verge  of 
civilized  life  and  lose  himself  in  the  yellow 
sunset,  for  a  whole  town,  county,  and  State 
may  be  transported  as  by  magic  ;  the  surplus 
of  a  dense  population,  by  this  simple  ma- 
chinery, being  planted  in  the  heart  of  wilder- 
nesses almost  by  the  sheer  force  and  play  of 
the  single  will  that  sets  the  machinery  in 
operation. 

It  is  conceded  that  Eli  Thayer,  whatever 
else  he  may  receive  credit  for,  has  earned  the 
name  of  the  originator  of  Organized  Emi- 
gration :  a  system  whose  wonderful  effects 
will  be  felt  years  after  he  is  dead,  and  for 
which  future  generations  will  bless  his  name. 
It  was  Eli  Whitney,  another  New  England 
man,  whose  fertile  brain  invented  the  wonder 
called  the  Cotton  Gin;  but,  for  ourselves, 
great  as  cotton  is,  and  is  yet  to  be,  we  would 
far  rather  enjoy  the  honor  of  having  invented 
the  machine  by  which  free  labor  may  go  and 
colonize  wherever  it  will,  with  the  assurance 


of  its  enjoying  its  honest  reward.  The  bene- 
fits of  association,  in  one  form  and  another, 
had  already  been  advertised  to  the  -world,  as 
in  the  case  of  banking,  building,  and  insuring, 
but  we  had  yet  to  see  the  same  principle  ap- 
plied to  colonization,  and  work  out  its  magic 
results  with  such  marvellous  certainty  and 
rapidity.  Now,  we  may  remove  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  coast  an  entire  town 
at  a  time,  carrying  out  with  us  our  favorite 
schools,  churches,  trades,  and  callings,  none 
of  which  need  part  with  their  precious  asso- 
ciations by  the  removal.  This  makes  .the  no- 
madic a  civilized  life,  tents  being  exchanged 
for  houses.  And  nothing  is  more  certain, 
than  that  where  a  people  feels  such  rapid 
transmigration  possible,  all  hopes  of  subduing 
their  spirit  or  alienating  their  love  for  freedom 
are  vain  indeed. 

As  a  fit  introduction  to  the  public  speeches 
in  Congress  of  the  man  who  first  taught  us 
how  to  apply  the  system  of  Emigration  to  the 
spread  of  free  labor  over  the  continent,  a 
brief  sketch  of  his  personal  career  may  not 
be  without  interest  to  readers  everywhere. 
The  public  would  know  all  they  can  about  a 
man  of  mark,  nor  ought  he  to  expect  to  con- 
ceal himself.  Fortunately,  however,  no  one 
can  impute  to  Eli  Thayer  a  necessity  for  be- 
ing at  all  fastidious  about  the  most  public 
showing  of  his  entire  career.  It  is  of  charac- 
teristic interest  enough  to  be  sought  out  for 
publication  in  an  European  journal  like  the 
London  Times,  which  thus  helps  to  send  his 
name,  with  a  clear  and  true  ring,  quite  around 
the  world.  That  powerful  journal,  no  doubt, 
regards  him,  to  borrow  the  expression  of  one 
of  our  own  leading  presses,  "  as  the  chief  in- 
terpreter of  the  great  agencies  which  science 
and  invention  have  placed  within  the  grasp 
of  man,  and  with  which  not  only  is  the  physi- 
cal world  to  be  subdued  to  its  uses,  but  false 
systems  and  oppressive  institutions,  founded 
in  fraud,  are  to  be  crushed  out  of  existence." 

Mr.  Thayer  is  a  native  of  Mendon,  Mass., 
where  he  was  born  in  the  year  1819.  His 
father  was  a  laborious  farmer,  and  subse- 
quently kept  a  country  store  in  that  part  of 
the  town  now  known  as  Blackstone.  He  was 
unable  to  do  any  thing  for  his  son  Eli,  more 
than  other  men  in  similarly  cramped  situa- 
tions, and  the  lad  was  therefore  kept  at  work 
on  the  farm  till  he  was  well  grown,  obtaining 
such  meagre  instruction  as  the  district  school 
of  that  day  afforded  him.  But  he  was  of  an 


active  turn  of  mind,  and  had  learned  enough 
to  become  eager  to  know  more.     About  the 
'  time  he  had  exhausted  the  rudiments  in  the 
I  district  school,  his  father  failed  in  business; 
i  but  that  hindered  the  lad  none  in  his  plans. 
i  He  resolved  to  acquire  a  liberal  education, 
I  and  one  day  informed  his  father  of  his  deter- 
mination.    How  he  was  going  to  accomplish 
his  end  was  not  much  more  clear  to  the  mind 
of  the  one  than  the  other.     It  was  in  the 
year  1835  when  he  packed  his  few  clothes 
and  placed  his  trunk  on  board  a  boat  on  the 
Blackstone  Canal,  bound  for  Worcester,  and 
himself  walked  the  entire  distance.      Such 
was  his  first  entry  into  the  city  whose  best 
interests  he  was  so  soon  afterwards  to  sub- 
serve. 

In  Worcester,  he  entered  the  "  Manual 
Labor  School,"  an  institution  that  furnished 
indigent  young  men,  who  might  be  so  inclined, 
with  a  chance  to  pay  for  their  schooling  in 
work,  as  they  went  along.  In  this  school 
young  Thayer  fitted  himself  for  College, 
never  having  known  a  syllable  either  of 
Latin  or  Greek  previous  to  coming  here. 
After  a  year's  hard  labor  and  study,  pursued 
night  and  day  with  restless  energy,  he  pre- 
sented himself  for  admission  into  Brown  Uni- 
versity, at  Providence.  In  mathematical  at- 
tainments he  was  found  deficient,  not  coming 
up  to  the  standard ;  but  on  his  solemn  pro- 
mise, that,  by  persevering  labor,  he  would 
"catch  up"  and  hold  his  place,  under  the 
circumstances  of  the  case,  he  was  admitted ; 
and  the  promise  was  remembered  with  pride 
by  his  instructor  when  he  came  to  leave  the 
walls  of  his  honored  alma  mater,  for  Thayer 
was  the  best  in  mathematics  of  his  class. 

Eli  Thayer  entered  college  with  nothing, 
and  graduated  with  distinguished  honors,  and 
a  few  hundred  dollars  in  his  pocket.  That 
is  more  than  many  of  our  college  graduates 
can  say.  While  in  the  University,  he  de- 
frayed his  expenses  by  teaching  district 
schools  during  the  intervals  of  vacations,  and 
by  similar  labors,  from  time  to  time,  to  those 
which  sustained  him  at  the  school  in  Worces- 
ter. He  played  the  carpenter,  the  wood- 
sawyer,  and  the  landscape  gardener ;  and 
there  is  a  piece  of  embankment  before  one  of 
the  Professors'  residences  to-day,  the  green 
sods  of  which  he  placed  with  his  own  hands ; 
and  they  were  well  placed,  too.  Such  a 
young  man  cannot  fail  to  make  his  mark  in 
the  world  of  men  in  time,  the  supply  being 


yet  too  scanty  not  to  quicken  the  demand, 
when  they  do  appear. 

On  leaving  college,  he  returned  to  Wor- 
cester, and  was  made  Principal  of  the  very 
school  in  which  he  had  been  qualified  for  the 
University,  the  same  being  now  known  as 
the  "  "Worcester  Academy."  Here  he  worked 
on  as  few  men  do  work,  even  in  the  high  vo- 
cation of  teacher;  and  in  the  year  1851,  he 
opened  a  school  for  girls  on  what  was  known 
as  Goat's  Hill,  in  a  noble  and  appropriate 
structure  which  his  own  enterprise  had  erect- 
ed. Several  acres  are  connected  with  the 
building,  and  the  spot  was  named  Mount 
Oread.  The  "  Oread  Institute,"  with  its  nu- 
merous pupils  and  its  corps  of  skilful  and  ac- 
complished teachers,  enjoys  a  fame,  as  wide 
as  Worcester  herself,  throughout  the  coun- 
try. Mr.  Thayer  actively  superintended  the 
entire  education  of  his  pupils ;  and,  even 
now,  finds  time  enough  to  carry  on  his  origi- 
nal design  with  all  the  industry  and  vigor 
which  he  first  brought  to  its  development. 

Previous  to  entering  on  this  undertaking, 
however,  Mr.  Thayer  interested  himself 
largely  in  real  estate  enterprises ;  and  it  is 
notorious  that  the  city  of  Worcester  is,  to- 
day, indebted  as  much  to  him  as  to  any  other 
man  for  opening  up  certain  leading  improve- 
ments, such  as  locating  shops  and  factories  and 
mills,  that  have  given  an  abiding  impulse  to 
its  growth  and  material  prosperity.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  describe  the  Oread  Institute; 
every  stranger  who  passes  through  Worces- 
ter, in  the  cars,  at  once  espies  it  and  makes 
particular  inquiry  about  it.  Its  towers,  its 
long  line  of  masonry,  forming  a  sort  of  apron- 
work  from  end  to  end,  its  battlements  and  its 
imposing  position,  attract  immediate  atten- 
tion, and  are  worthy  to  crown  a  spot  that  of 
itself  forms  one  of  the  boldest  features  of  the 
town.  It  is  proper  to  add  that  this  seminar)' 
is  well  sustained  by  the  public  far  and  near, 
furnishing  its  projector  with  a  liberal  and  cer- 
tain income,  as  his  enterprise  well  deserves. 

While  still  engaged  in  the  business  of  in- 
struction, he  has  found  time  to  indulge  his 
tastes,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  for  politics. 
He  always  took  a  profound  interest  in  pub- 
lic questions,  and  was  ready  with  his  opinions 
—  intelligent,  Avell-considered  and  indepen- 
dent, —  when  called  upon  for  their  expres- 
sion. In  this  regard,  he  furnishes  a  fine  ex- 
ample of  what  really  belongs  to  every  good 


citizen .  not  to  be  so  indifferent  to  all  other 
pursuits  than  his  own,  as  to  lead  a  life  of  self- 
ishness and  seclusion,  but  to  hold  himself 
ready  to  give  his  fellow-citizens  the  benefit 
of  his  aid  and  counsel  in  any  energency. 
Thus  he  has  been  an  Alderman  in  his 
adopted  city.  During  the  winter  of  1853-4, 
he  served  as  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts 
Legislature,  from  Worcester,  and  again  in 
the  following  winter.  In  this  capacity  he 
gave  his  political  friends  and  supporters 
abundant  satisfaction  by  his  services. 

It  was  during  his  last  term  as  a  legislator 
that  those  events  were  born  in  our  national 
history,  which  require  just  such  a  man  to  un- 
ravel and  master  them.  The  famous  Kan- 
sas-Nebraska Bill  having  passed  Congress, 
by  the  consequent  repeal  of  the  long-standing 
Missouri  Compromise  the  young  territories 
were  forthwith  thrown  open  for  a  hand-to- 
hand  struggle  between  the  forces  of  Free 
and  Slave  Labor.  Whichever  should  win  in' 
that  fight,  was  to  possess  those  lands  for  all 
time.  The  Free  State  men  were  at  a  dis- 
tance; their  opponents  were  already,  as  it 
were,  on  the  ground.  The  former  were  placed 
at  a  still  greater  disadvantage,  that  they 
either  had  to  pass  directly  through  a  slave 
Stateto  reach  Kansas,  or  to  make  a  circuitous 
and  wearisome  journey  further  to  the  north, 
through  a  free  State.  It  was  expensive  to 
remove  all  the  way  to  Kansas ;  little  was 
known  of  the  country  at  the  East ;  men  were 
extremely  loth  to  take  their  families,  one  by 
one,  so  far  beyond  the  frontier ;  and,  with 
such  a  variety  and  force  of  opposition,  the 
spirit  of  the  friends  of  Free  Labor  began  sen- 
sibly to  flag,  even  while  they  saw  and  la- 
mented that  the  prize  might,  with  proper  ef- 
fort, be  won.  How  to  make  that  effort  most 
effective  was  the  problem. 

Eli  Thayer  sat  in  the  State  Capitol  and 
thought  the  whole  thing  out.  He  caught  the 
spirit  of  the  hour,  and  conceived  the  magic 
plan  that  was  to  bring  order  out  of  chaos, 
dissipate  the  fears  of  the  lovers  of  freedom, 
and  rescue  a  young  State  from  the  curse, 
whose  dark  shadow  was  then  passing  over  its 
plains.  On  the  instant,  he  made  known  his 
plan.  By  many  it  was  lightly  thought  of,  be- 
cause it  was  so  simple.  Others  would  rather 
wait  to  see  how  it  was  likely  to  work.  The 
doubters  were  as  plenty  as  they  always  are 
at  such  times.  But  Mr.  Thayer  possessed  a 


wonderful  power  of  work;  and,  as  an  English- 
man -would  say,  work  generally  accomplishes  ; 
the  end  sought  for. 

The  first  step  he  took  was  to  procure  tne 
charter  of  an  '•  Emigrant  Aid  Society  "  from  • 
the  Legislature,  having  already  enlisted  the  | 
sympathy  and  co-operation  of  many  of  the  ; 
leading  men  of  the  State.     To  show  that  this  j 
movement  was,  in  no  sense,  a  political,  but  ; 
rather  a  social  and  economic  one,  from  the 
start,  it  is  sufficient  to  state,  that  among  the 
original  corporators  to  whom  this  grant  was 
made  by  the  Legislature,  appear  the  names 
of  Col.  Isaac  Davis,  of  Worcester ;  and  Gen. 
J.  S.  Whitney,  of  Springfield.     Hon.  A.  A. 
Lawrence,  of  Boston,  likewise  lent  it  his  aid 
in  a  large  and  effective  amount  of  ready 
money,  as  is  well  remembered  by  all. 

Having  obtained  his  charter,  the  next  step 
to  be  pursued  by  Mr.  Thayer  was  to  excite  and 
direct  public  sentiment  in  favor  of  his  plan. 
The  people  wanted  nothing  so  much  as  to 
make  Kansas  a  free  State,  but  they  were  in 
the  dark  about  the  modus  operandi.  If  they 
could  be  convinced  that  there  was  a  way  by 
which  they  could  compass  their  ardent  desire, 
they  would  seize  hold  of  it  without  any  hesi- 
tation. To  enlist  the  confidence  of  men  every- 
where in  his  project,  —  the  grand  project 
of  Organized  Emigration,  —  Mr.  Thayer  left 
home  and  business,  and  perse veringly  gave 
himself  to  the  work  of  elucidating  bis  scheme 
before  the  people  and  pressing  it  liome  to 
their  convictions.  While  engaged  in  this  la- 
bor,— for  it  was  indeed  labor,  —  he  travelled 
thousands  of  miles  and  addressed  hundreds 
of  meetings,  holding  conferences  with  inquir- 
ing men  at  all  places  and  points  within  his 
reach,  and  preaching,  without  intermission, 
his  theory  that  organized  free  labor  could 
easily  overthrow  organized  slave  labor,  if  the 
experiment  was  once  but  fairly  tried.  In 
good  time,  he  beheld  his  work  prosper.  Emi- 
grants began  to  flock  around  the  standard  he 
had  so  boldly  erected  in  large  numbers.  They 
rallied,  not  as  a  mob,  but  in  disciplined  ranks 
and  masses.  From  the  offices  of  emigration, 
which  were  established  at  different  points, 
parties  were  forwarded  straight  to  the  ground 
in  dispute,  one  following  close  at  the  heels  of 
another,  all  of  them  orderly  and  resolute,  all 
bent  on  fulfilling  the  destiny  of  actual  settlers, 
and,  taken  as  a  whole,  the  finest  specimen  of 
emigrating  valor  and  virtue  ever  seen  in  his- 
tory. It  was  indeed,  to  look  back  upon  it 


now,  a  wonderful  feat  for  the  brain  of  a  single 
man  to  accomplish. 

The  various  parties  of  Free-State  settlers 
began  now  to  pour  into  Kansas  without  in- 
terruption. In  a  very  brief  period  of  time, 
many  thousands  of  persons — the  flower  of 
our  States — were  securely  established  on  the 
soil,  having  staked  out  their  claims  and  be- 
come real  residents  and  owners.  Had  this 
work  been  deferred  until  the  next  spring 
only,  Kansas  would  have  been  lost,  by  uni- 
versal admission ',  for  the  Missouri  lodges  were 
organizing  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and  it  was 
the  design  of  the  prime  movers  in  the  plan 
to  throw  them  across  the  line  into  the  Terri- 
tory in  dispute,  just  as  soon  as  the  next  season 
opened.  In  that  case,  it  would  have  been 
idle  for  the  men  of  the  north  and  the  east  to 
start  at  all ;  their  labor  would  have  come  to 
nought  even  before  it  was  begun.  The  se- 
cret of  the  free-labor  success  was,  that  by  the 
rapidity  and  compactness  of  its  emigration, 
under  the  scheme  of  Eli  Thayer,  the  work 
was  done  before  the  other  side  had  time  to 
think  of  it.  They  invited  a  free  contest,  and 
they  were  beaten.  The  intended  crossing 
over  the  line,  on  the  following  spring,  was 
not  undertaken.  The  battle  had  clearly  gone 
against  them.  This  they  confessed  by  their 
acts  of  retaliatory  violence  and  their  loud  ex- 
pressions of  indignation.  So  incensed  were 
they,  even  before  the  deed  was  known  to  be 
done,  they  offered  a  reward  for  the  head  of 
Eli  Thayer,  the  author  and  inventor  of  the 
scheme  by  which  their  game  was  thus  blocked, 
and  kept  the  reward  standing  for  some  time 
at  the  head  of  their  newspapers  !  Had  they 
secured  his  caput,  they  would  have  been  like- 
ly to  obtain  a  good  deal  more  than  they  bar- 
gained for.  He  would  have  taught  them  a 
practical  point  in  the  art  of  emigration,  far 
beyond  any  they  yet  knew.  Their  plan  was 
based  on  force,  absolute  and  brutal ;  Thayer 
sent  forward  the  saw-mill  and  grist-mill  as  his 
pioneer,  and  men  followed  close  after  steam. 
Davy  Atchison,  seeing  one  of  these  steam 
mills  passing  on  one  day,  remarked,  with 
an  oath,  to  a  friend  standing  by,  '•  There 
goes  another  Yankee  city ! "  And  he  was 
right.  The  steam  mill  drew  a  whole  town- 
ship close  behind  it,  including  a  school,  a 
church,  and  a  newspaper ;  and  this  was  Eli 
Thayer's  fortunate  and  timely  discovery. 

The  result  in    Kansas   having   proved   so 
auspicious  to  Free  Labor,  the  attention   of 


Mr.  Thayer's  fellow  citizens  was  afterwards 
drawn  to  him  as  a  peculiarly  fit  man  to  re- 
present them  in  Congress.  Judge  Chapin 
happened  to  be  the  nominee  of  the  party,  and 
had  accepted  the  nomination ;  only  eight 
days  before  the  election,  however,  he  felt  com- 
pelled, for  good  reasons,  to  decline  the  posi- 
tion. This  left  the  Republicans  of  the  Wor- 
cester district  in  a  bad  plight ;  and,  for  the 
moment,  it  seemed  as  if  there  was  no  chance 
of  defeating  Col.  DeWitt,  the  deservedly 
popular  candidate  of  the  Americans.  Many 
despaired  and  would  give  up  the  battle ;  but 
a  few  determined  to  go  on  and  make  another 
nomination.  Mr.  Eli  Thayer  was  at  once 
waited  on  by  the  Committee  to  whom  Mr. 
Chapin's  resignation  had  been  sent,  and  asked 
if  he  would  consent  to  run  in  his  place.  "  Yes," 
was  the  ready  and  decisive  answer.  They 
reminded  him  how  short  the  time  was  to  elec- 
tion day,  and  told  him  Avhat  kind  of  work, 
and  how  much  of  it,  he  would  be  expected  to 
perform,  in  order  to  secure  success.  This 
only  excited  his  courage  the  more.  "  Fur- 
nish me  with  facilities  for  travelling  through 
the  district,"  said  Mr.  Thayer,  "  and  I  will 
be  ready  to  speak  four  times  in  every  twenty- 
lour  hours  ! "  The  Committee  were  surprised. 
They  promised,  however,  to  do  their  part.  It 
is  a  matter  of  political  history  that  Eli  Thay- 
er did  his  ;  and  he  made  nothing  of  putting 
twenty  miles  between  his  afternoon  and 
first  evening  addresses.  lie  was  all  game, 
and  all  endurance.  It  was  simply  impossible 
to  defeat  such  a  man,  for  no  other  could  hold 
out  against  him. 

lie  was  triumphantly  elected  to  Congress 
by  the  people  of  his  district,  and  entered  up- 
on his  duties  as  a  national  legislator,  in  De- 
cember of  the  year  1857.  His  entrance 
upon  the  floor  of  the  House  attracted  much 
attention,  for  all  were  eager  to  see  the  man 
whose  single  idea  had  been  the  instrument  of 
redeeming  Kansas  from  the  hands  of  her 
enemies.  Probably  many  men  then  thought 
that  the  price  set  on  his  head  was  altogether 
too  low, 

His  first  speech  in  Congress  was  delivered 
on  the  7th  of  January,  18.38,  on  the  Central 
American  Question.  All  sides  agreed  that 
it  produced  a  decided  sensation.  It  was  off 
the  beaten  track  of  Congressional  discussion 
and  disclosed  a  vein  of  freshness,  originality, 
and  humor  that  was  not  looked  for.  The 
New  York  Tribune  said  of  it,  that  "  by  com- 


mon consent,  it  established  Mr.  Thayer's 
fame."  His  object,  in  the  speech,  was  to 
hint  a  plan  for  organized  emigration  from  the 
North  to  Nicaragua,  —  in  other  words,  for 
"  Americanizing  Central  America."  It  pro- 
duced such  a  surprise  among  those  men 
from  the  Gulf  States  who  think  that  Central 
America  belongs  exclusively  to  their  own 
bailiwick,  that  they  were  puzzled,  for  a  time, 
whether  to  laugh  or  swear.  It  was  said  that 
so  rich  a  scene  is  rarely  witnessed  in  Con- 
gress as  presented  itself  during  the  delivery 
of  that  speech.  Without  remarking  any  fur- 
ther upon  it,  it  is  given  herewith  exactly  as  it 
was  reported]. 


Mr.  Thayer  said :  — 

MR.  CIIAIRMAX,  —  It  is  my  purpose  to  of- 
fer an  amendment  to  the  resolution  which  is 
now  before  the  Committee,  for  the  purpose 
of  widening  the  proposed  investigation.  I  do 
not  intend  to  discuss  at  all  the  topics  which 
the  Committee  has  been  considering  during 
the  past  three  days.  I  am  not  here  to  con- 
sider whether  Mr.  Walker  was  legally  or  ille- 
gally arrested,  or  whether  Commodore  Pauld- 
ing  is  to  be  censured  or  applauded  for  his 
action.  I  shall  express  no  sympathy  with  the 
course  pursued  by  the  President.  I  have  no 
intention  to  discuss  his  position  in  relation  to 
this  matter,  neither  is  it  my  purpose  to  enter 
the  lists  with  the  gentleman  from  Tennessee 
[Mr.  Maynard],  who  eulogized  the  heroism 
of  Mr.  Walker  —  a  man,  who,  claiming  to  be 
the  President  of  Nicaragua,  and  to  represent 
in  his  own  person  the  sovereignty  of  that 
State,  surrendered  without  a  protest,  and 
without  a  blow,  to  a  power  upon  his  own  soil, 
which  he  claimed  to  be  an  invading  force. 
Whether  this  be  heroism,  I  shall  not  now  in- 
quire. 

I  thrust  aside,  for  the  present,  all  questions 
of  legal  technicality  in  this  matter ;  all  the 
mysteries  of  the  construction  of  the  neutral- 
ity laws ;  all  these  questions  which  have  en- 
grossed the  attention  of  the  House  during  the 
last  three  days,  and  concerning  which  every- 
body has  been  speaking,  and  nobody  caring ; 
and  I  come  to  that  great,  paramount,  tran- 
scendent question,  about  which  everybody  is 
caring  and  nobody  is  speaking :  "  How  shall 
we  Americanize  Central  America  ?  " 

It  may  be  a  matter  of  surprise  that  I  pass 


8 


over  two  or  three  questions  which,  in  their 
natural  order,  seem  to  be  antecedent  to  this 
one.  And  these  questions  are :  First,  Do 
we  wish  to  Americanize  Central  America  ? 
Secondly,  Can  we  Americanize  Central 
America?  Thirdly,  Shall  we  Americanize 
Central  America  ? 

Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  say  that  whoever 
has  studied  the  history  of  this  country,  and 
whoever  knows  the  character  of  this  people, 
and  whoever  can  infer  their  destiny  from 
their  character  and  their  history,  knows  that 
these  three  preliminary  questions  are  already 
answered  by  the  American  people  —  that  we 
do  wish  to  Americanize  Central  America; 
that  we  can  Americanize  Central  America  ; 
and  that  we  shall  Americanize  Central  Amer- 
ica. 

And  now,  Mr.  Chairman,  in  relation  to  the 
manner  and  agency.  How  can  we  Ameri- 
canize Central  America  ?  Shall  we  do  it 
legally  and  fairly,  or  illegally  and  unfairly  ? 
Shall  we  do  it  by  conferring  a  benefit  on  the 
people  of  Central  America,  or  shall  we  do  it 
by  conquest,  by  robbery,  and  violence  V  Shall 
we  do  it  without  abandoning  national  laws, 
and  without  violating  our  treaty  stipulations  V 
Shall  we  do  it  in  accordance  with  the  law  of 
nations  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  or 
shall  we  do  it  by  force,  blood,  and  fire  ? 

Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  my  position  is  this: 
that  we  will  do  it  legally ;  that  we  will  do  it 
in  accordance  with  the  highest  laws,  human 
and  divine. 

By  the  way,  sir,  I  did  agree  with  the  gen- 
tleman from  New  York  [Mr.  Haskin],  when 
he  told  us  yesterday  that  he  was  not  in  favor 
of  petit  larceny ;  but  I  did  not  agree  with 
him  when  lie  said  he  was  in  favor  of  grand 
larceny.  I  regret  that  a  Representative  of 
the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  the  Coun- 
cil Hall  of  the  nation,  should  say  to  his  con- 
stituents, to  the  nation,  and  to  the  world,  that 
he  and  the  Democratic  party  were  "  rather  in 
favor  of  grand  larceny."  Larceny  is  larceny ; 
and  you  cannot  say  a  meaner  thing  about  it 
than  to  call  it  by  its  own  name.  I  am  painqd 
that  this  report  has  gone  forth,  that  any  party, 
or  that  any  individual  in  this  House,  or  con- 
nected with  this  Government,  is  in  favor  of 
grand  larceny  or  petit  larceny.  Larceny, 
grand  or  petit,  is  not  only  disgraceful,  but  is 
absolutely  and  utterly  contemptible.  We  do 
not  go  for  the  acquisition  or  Americanization 
of  territory  by  larceny  of  any  kind  whatever, 
but  fairly,  openly,  and  honorably. 


Then,  sir,  by  what  agency  may  we  thus 
Americanize  Central  America  ?  I  reply  to 
the  question,  by  the  power  of  organized  emi- 
gration. That  is  abundantly  able  to  give  us 
Central  America  as  soon  as  we  want  it.  We 
could  have  Americanized  Central  America 
half  a  dozen  times  by  this  power  within  the 
•  last  three  years,  if  there  had  been  no  danger 
or  apprehension  of  meddlesome  or  vexatious 
Executive  interference.  But  if  we  are  to 
use  this  mighty  power  of  organized  emigra- 
tion, we  want  a  different  kind  of  neutrality 
laws  from  those  which  we  now  have ;  and, 
therefore,  I  am  desirous  that  this  Committee 
shall  recommend  something  which  shall  not 
subject  us  to  the  misconstruction  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  or  to  his  construc- 
tion at  all.  I  want  these  neutrality  laws  so 
plain  that  every  man  may  know  whether  lie 
is  in  the  right  or  in  the  wrong,  whether  he  is 
violating  those  laws  or  is  not  violating  them. 
For,  Mr.  Chairman,  with  our  new-fashioned 
kind  of  emigration,  with  our  organized  emi- 
gration, which  goes  in  colonies,  and  therefore 
must,  of  necessity,  to  some  extent,  resemble 
a  military  organization,  there  is  great  danger 
that  a  President  with  a  dim  intellect  may 
make  a  mistake,  and  subject  to  harassing  and 
vexatious  delays,  and  sometimes  to  loss  and 
injury,  a  peaceful,  quiet  colony,  going  out  to 
settle  in  a  neighboring  State. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  can  illustrate  this  position. 
You,  sir,  remember  that  in  the  year  1856, 
when  it  was  lad  travelling  across  the  State 
of  Missouri,  on  the  way  to  Kansas,  our  col- 
onies went  through  the  State  of  Iowa,  and 
through  the  Territory  of  Nebraska.  These 
were  peaceful,  quiet  colonies,  going  to  settle 
in  the  Territory  of  Kansas,  by  that  long  and 
wearisome  journey,  because  it  was  lad  travel- 
ling through  the  State  of  Missouri.  You  re- 
member that  one  of  these  colonies  of  organ- 
ized emigrants,  which  went  from  Maine  and 
Massachusetts,  and  from  various  other  North- 
ern States,  was  arrested  just  as  it  was  passing 
over  the  southern  boundary  of  the  Territory 
of  Nebraska,  on  its  way  to  its  future  home  in 
Kansas.  It  was  a  peaceful,  quiet  colony,  go- 
ing out  with  its  emigrant  wagons,  "  all  in  a 
row,"  and,  therefore,  looking  something  like  a 
military  organization;  going  out  with  their 
women  and  their  children,  with  sub-soil  plows 
with  coulters  a  yard  long  [laughter],  with 
pick-axes,  with  crowbars,  with  shovels,  and 
with  garden  seeds.  This  beautiful  colony  was 


9 


arrested  by  the  officials  of  the  present  Execu- 
tive's predecessor.  It  was  by  some  mistake, 
no  doubt.  Perhaps  he  took  the  turnip-seed 
for  powder;  and  I  doubt  whether  the  case 
•would  have  been  better  if  the  President  had 
been  there  himself.  This  colony  was  arrested 
within  our  own  dominion.  It  was  not  an  emi- 
gration to  a  foreign  country,  and  there  was 
no  danger  of  interference  with  the  neutrality 
laws.  These  quiet,  peaceful  colonists,  be- 
cause their  wagons  went  in  a  row  for  mutual 
defence,  through  the  wild,  uncultivated  Ter- 
ritory of  Nebraska,  where  there  Avere  Indians, 
they  were  arrested  as  a  military  organization. 
We  do  not  want,  hereafter,  either  within  the 
limits  of  the  United  States  or  without  them, 
any  such  meddlesome  and  vexatious  inter- 
ference by  the  executive  power  of  this  Gov- 
ernment. Therefore,  I  say,  let  us  have  some 
neutrality  laws  that  can  be  understood.  If 
there  had  been  no  apprehensions  in  the  North 
about  the  neutrality  laws,  if  we  had  not  ex- 
pected that  whatever  emigration  we  might 
have  fitted  out  for  Central  America  would 
have  been  arrested  within  the  marine  league 
of  the  harbor  of  Boston,  why,  we  would  have 
colonized  Central  America  years  ago,  and 
had  it  ready  for  admission  into  the  Union  be- 
fore this  time.  We  want  a  modification  or 
an  elucidation  of  the  neutrality  laws,  and  I 
trust  that  it  will  be  the  duty  of  the  committee 
so  to  report. 

Before  I  proceed  to  consider  the  power  and 
benefits  of  this  system  of  organized  emigra- 
tion, and  the  reason  why  it  ought  not  to  be 
rejected  by  this  House,  I  will  proceed,  as 
briefly  as  I  can,  to  show  the  interests  which 
the  Northern  portion  of  this  country  has  in 
Americanizing  Central  America,  as  contrast- 
ed with  the  interests  which  the  Southern 
portion  has  in  doing  the  same  thing.  I  come, 
then,  to  speak  of  the  immense  interests  which 
the  Northern  States  have  in  this  proposed  en- 
terprise. I  am  astonished,  that  so  far  in  this 
debate  the  advocates  for  Americanizing  Cen- 
tral America  seem  to  be  mostly  from  those 
States  which  border  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
As  yet,  I  have  heard  no  man  from  the  North- 
ern States  advocating  the  same  thing.  Let 
us  look  at  the  interests  of  the  Northern  States 
in  this  question,  and  then  at  those  of  the 
Southern  States. 

These  Northern  States  are,  as  the  States 
of  Northern  Europe  were  designated  by 
Tacitus,  offidna  gentium.  "  the  manufactory 


of  nations."  We  can  make  one  state  a  year. 
In  the  last  three  years  we  have  colonized 
almost  wholly  the  Territory  of  Kansas.  We 
bave  furnished  settlers  to  Minnesota  and 
Nebraska,  and  the  Lord  knows  where,  but 
AVC  have  not  exhausted  one-half  of  our  natur- 
al increase.  We  have  received  accessions  to 
our  numbers  in  that  time,  from  foreign  coun- 
tries, of  more  than  one  million  of  souls,  and 
now  we  have  no  relief;  we  are  worse  off  to- 
day than  we  were  when  we  began  to  colonize 
Kansas.  We  must  have  an  outlet  some- 
where for  our  surplus  population.  [Laugh- 
ter.] 

Sir,  I  have  a  resolution  in  my  pocket, 
which  I  have  been  carrying  about  for  days, 
waiting  patiently  for  an  opportunity  to  pre- 
sent it  in  this  House,  instructing  the  Com- 
mittee on  Territories  to  report  a  bill  organiz- 
ing and  opening  for  settlement  the  Indian 
Territory.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  came  to  this 
conclusion  with  reluctance,  that  we  must 
have  the  Indian  Territory.  But  necessity 
knows  no  law.  We  must  go  somewhere. 
Something  must  be  opened  to  the  descendants 
of  the  Pilgrims.  [Laughter.]  Why,  sir,  just 
look  at  it.  We  are  crammed  in  between  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans.  The  bounding 
billows  of  our  emigration  are  dashing  fiercely 
against  both  sides  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
Obstructed  now  by  these  barriers,  this  west- 
ward moving  tide  begins  to  set  back.  Will 
it  flow  towards  Canada  ?  Not  at  all.  It 
has  already  begun  to  flow  over  the  "  Old  Do- 
minion" [laughter],  and  into  other  States. 
Missouri  is  almost  inundated  with  it.  We 
cannot  check  this  tide  of  flowing  emigration. 
You  might  as  well  try  to  shut  out  from  this 
continent,  by  curtains,  the  light  of  the  auro- 
ra borealis.  No  such  thing  can  be  accom- 
plished. This  progress  must  be  onward,  and 
we  must  have  territory.  We  must  have  ter- 
ritory ;  and  I  think  it  most  opportune  that 
the  proposition  seems  to  be  before  the  coun- 
try to  Americanize  Central  America.  A 
better  time  could  not  be  ;  for,  in  addition  to 
the  population  which  we  now  have,  which  is . 
immense  in  the  Northern  States,  as  I  shall  • 
show  you  in  proceeding,  this  financial  pres- 
sure in  the  East,  and  in  the  different  nations 
of  Europe,  will  send  to  our  shores  in  the  year 
1858  not  less  than  half  a  million  of  men.  In 
addition  to  that  we  have  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  of  our  own  population,  who 
will  change  localities  in  that  time.  Then> 


10 

sir,  there  are  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thou-  the  same  census.  In  the  State  of  Connecticut 
sand  men  to  be  prepared  for,  somewhere,  in  we  have  seventy-nine.  In  the  State  of  New 
the  year  1858 — men  enough,  sir,  to  make  York  we  have  sixty-five.  So,  you  see,  it  was 
ei«Tht  States,  if  we  only  had  Territories  in  not  fiction,  it  was  not  poeCry,  not  a  stretch  of 
which  to  put  them,  and  if  we  only  use  them  I  the  imagination,  when  I  told  you  that  the 
economically  [laughter],  as  we  are  sure  to  |  descendants  of  the  Pilgrims  were  in  a  tight 
do  by  this  system  of  organized  emigration.  place.  [Laughter.] 

Now,  could  any  thing  be  more  opportune,  But  how  is  it  with  the  States  which  border 
at  this  time,  than  to  have  this  project  sub-  !  upon  the  Gulf?  Look  at  it  and  see.  They 
mitted  to  us,  of  opening  Central  America  to  have,  some  of  them,  eighty-nine  hundredths 
settlement  ?  I  assure  you,  if  the  Committee  of  a  man  to  the  square  mile.  [Laughter.]  In 
•will  report  any  bill  which  will  enable  the  another  one  we  have  one  and  the  forty-eight 
people  of  the  North,  without  larceny  of  any  hundredth  part  of  a  man  to  the  square  mile  : 
kind,  without  tyranny  of  any  kind,  to  settle  and,  taking  them  altogether,  we  have  just 
that  country,  I  will  postpone  my  resolution  about  three  men  to  the  square  mile  in  all 
for  the  opening  of  the  Indian  Territory,  at  j  those  States  which  border  upon  the  Gulf  of 
least  until  the  next  session  of  Congress.  Mexico. 

But  it  is  not  only  for  the  purpose  of  fur-  !  Now,  sir,  it  would  be  folly  for  me  to  argue, 
nishing  an  outlet  for  our  immense  population  '  and  there  is  no  kind  of  reason  for  supposing, 
in  the  North  that  I  now  advocate  the  Amer-  >  that  these  States  expect  to  do  any  thing  about 
icanizing  of  Central  America.  The  inter-  colonizing  Central  America.  They  cannot 
ests  of  commerce,  as  well  as  this  great  argu-  ;  afford  to  lose  a  man.  They  had  better  give 
ment  of  necessity,  are  on  our  side.  Who  j  away  two  thousand  dollars  than  to  lose  a  sin- 
has  the  trade  beyond  Central  America  ?  ;  glc  honest,  industrious  citizen.  They  can- 
We  have  whale  fisheries  in  the  Northern  ;  not  afford  it.  I  have  left  out  of  this  calcula- 
Ocean,  which  build  up  great  cities  upon  the  j  tion,  to  be  sure,  the  enumeration  of  the 
eastern  shore  of  Massachusetts.  We  have  slaves  in  those  States,  for  the  gentleman  from 
trade  with  Oregon  and  California,  with  the  Tennessee  [Mr.  Maynard]  informed  us  that 
Sandwich  Islands,  and  the  western  coast  of  i  the  question  of  Slavery  did  not  come  into 
South  America.  We  are  opening  a  trade,  this  argument  properly,  and  I  agree  with 
destined  to  be  an  immense  trade,  with  the  i  him  there.  I  think  he  may  agree  with  me, 
Empires  of  China  and  Japan,  and  we  must  of  that  by  no  possibility  can  slavery  ever  be  es- 
necessity  have  in  Central  America  certain  tablished  in  Central  America.  That  is  my 
factors  and  certain  commercial  agencies,  who,  j  belief.  Just  fix  your  neutrality  laws,  and  we 
in  a  very  few  years,  with  their  families  and  j  will  fill  up  Central  America  before  18CO 
relatives  and  dependants,  will  make  a  dense  sufficiently  to  be  comfortable, 
population  in  Central  America.  I  say,  then,  Mr.  MAYXARD.  With  the  permission  of 
that  for  the  interests  of  commerce  we  want  \  the  gentleman,  I  desire  to  ask  him  whether 
Central  America  Americanized.  This  com-  he  will  pledge  himself  for  his  constituents, 
.mercial  interest  is,  unfortunately,  a  sectional  and  for  all  those  he  represents,  that  when 
interest  in  these  States.  It  is,  emphatically,  a  '  they  get  down  there  they  will  not  make 
Northern  interest ;  and  therefore,  as  a  North-  :  slaves  of  the  people  they  find  there  ? 


ern  man,  I  advocate  especially  that  Central 
America  should  be  Americanized. 


Mr.  TIIAYER.     Certainly  I  will  do  it ;  and 
I  will  say  more  on  that  subject  hereafter.     I 


Now,  sir,  1  said  I  was  astonished  that  gen-  ;  will  say  to  the  gentlemen  upon  the  other  side 
tlemcn  who  come  from  States  bordering  upon  who  have  advocated  this  right  of  emigration, 
the  Gulf,  had  advocated  this  project,  and  not  and  have  no  personal  interest  in  this  matter, 
.the  Representatives  who  come  from  Northern  that  they  can  have  no  pecuniary  interest  in 
.  States.  Let  us  see  the  reason  why  the  North  !  it,  for  they  have  no  men  to  spare  for  this  en- 
should  be  more  zealous  than  the  South  in  '  terprise.  And  especially  do  I  honor  the 
this  movement.  In  the  State  of  Massachusetts  gentleman  from  Mississippi  [Mr.  Quitman], 
"we  have  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  peo-  who  professed  to  be  moved  by  arguments  of 
pie  to  a  square  mile,  by  the  census  of  1850.  philanthropy  in  relation  to  this  question,  and 
In  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  we  have  one  who  maintained  that  the  people  of  Central 
hundred  and  twelve  to  the  square  mile,  by  [  America  were  oppressed,  that  they  needed  our 


11 


assistance,  and  that  it  was  conferring  a  bene- 
fit upon  them  to  send  out  colonies  among 
them  to  aid  them  to  get  rid  of  their  oppres- 
sors. This  is  more  than  patriotism.  It  ap- 
proaches universal  brotherhood.  I  am  glad 
that  that  gentleman  is  defending  the  rights  of 
emigration.  No  man  prizes  those  rights 
more  highly  than  I  do.  I  think  that  I  under- 
stand their  power  and  their  value,  and  I  am 
glad  to  welcome  among  the  list  of  political 
regenerators,  the  gentleman  from  Mississippi 
with  such  large,  wide,  and  noble  views  upon 
this  question.  I  do  not  here  endorse  his 
whole  speech.  I  did  not  hear  the  whole  of 
it.  I  do  not  know  what  he  said  about  Mr. 
Walker,  whether  he  defends  him,  or  whether 
he  does  not.  For  myself,  I  do  not  say  that  I 
defend  him,  or  that  I  do  not,  at  this  time.  I 
wait  for  the  report  of  our  committee,  to  know 
what  are  the  facts  in  this  case,  and  whether 
he  is  fit  to  be  defended  or  not. 

Now,  sir,  I  am  rejoiced  that  I  have  found 
aid  and  comfort  in  a  great  political  missionary 
movement  from  a  quarter  where  I  least  ex- 
pected it.  This  argument  of  philanthropy 
is  sufuciently  potent  with  the  South  ;  while  I 
will  not  deny  that  it  is  always  more  or  less 
potent  with  the  North,  perhaps  not  so  potent 
with  the  North  as  with  the  South  —  very  like- 
ly we  are  more  material  and  less  spiritual  — 
but  still,  I  say,  it  has  some  power  at  the 
North.  We  do  not  live  so  near  the  sun  as 
do  those  gentlemen  who  border  on  the  Gulf; 
but  we  live  near  enough  to  the  sun  to  have 
some  warmth  in  our  hearts,  and  the  appeals 
of  philanthropy  to  us  are  not  made  in  vain. 

But, in  addition  to  that,  just  look  at  it,  sir! 
In  addition  to  that  great  argument  of  philan- 
thropy, we  have  not  only  the  argument  of 
necessity,  but  the  argument  of  making  money ; 
and  when  you  take  those  three  arguments, 
and  combine  them,  you  make  a  great  motive 
power,  which  is  sufficient,  in  ordinary  cases, 
to  move  Northern  men,  though  they  are  not 
very  mobile  nor  very  fickle. 

So  much,  Mr.  Chairman,  for  the  compar- 
ison of  interests  between  the  Northern  and 
Southern  people  of  these  United  States  in 
relation  to  the  Americanizing  of  Central 
America. 

I  come  now  to  discuss,  briefly,  the  power 
and  benefits  of  this  new  mode  of  emigration. 
And,  sir,  what  is  its  power  ?  I  tell  you  its 
power  is  greater  than  that  which  is  wielded 
by  any  potentate  or  emperor  upon  the  face 


of  God's  footstool.  If  we  can  form  a  company, 
or  a  number  of  companies,  which  can  control 
the  emigration  of  this  country,  —  the  foreign 
emigration  and  native  emigration,  —  I  tell 
you,  sir,  that  that  company,  or  those  compa- 
nies, will  have  more  power  than  any  potentate 
or  emperor  upon  the  face  of  the  earth ;  and 
that  company,  or  those  companies,  may  laugh 
at  politicians;  they  may  laugh,  sir,  at  the 
President  and  his  Cabinet ;  at  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  at  Congress  ;  for  all  these  powers 
of  the  Government,  great  and  mighty  as  they 
are,  can  do  nothing,  in  accordance  with  the 
Constitution  of  this  land,  which  can  in  any 
way  interfere  with  our  progress,  or  prevent 
our  making  cities,  and  states,  and  nations, 
wherever  and  whenever  we  please.  Then, 
sir,  there  can  be  no  doubt  about  the  power  of 
this  agency,  which,  I  tell  you,  is  the  right  one 
for  us  to  make  use  of  in  getting  Central 
America  if  we  want  it,  or  in  Americanizing 
Central  America,  as  we  are  sure  to  do. 

Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  said  nothing 
about  annexing  Central  America  to  the  Unit- 
ed States.  For  myself,  I  care  nothing  about 
it,  and  I  do  not  know  whether  the  people  of 
this  country  are  ready  for  that  proposition 
yet.  I  think,  however,  they  would  rather 
annex  a  thousand  square  leagues  of  territory 
than  to  lose  a  single  square  foot.  To  be  sure, 
sir,  we  have  a  few  men  in  the  North  who 
honestly  hate  this  Union.  I  will  not  criticise 
their  views.  I  will  not  condemn  them  for 
their  views.  They  have  a  right  to  cherish 
just  what  views  they  please  in  relation  to  this 
question.  Sir,  there  are  still  a  larger  num- 
ber of  sour  and  disappointed  politicians,  who, 
though  they  do  not  profess  hatred  to  this 
Union,  do,  to  a  certain  extent,  profess  indif- 
ference as  to  its  continuance.  But  the  great 
and  overwhelming  majority  of  the  people  of 
the  North,  sir,  as  a  unit,  are  determined  that 
no  force,  internal  or  external,  shall  ever  wrest 
from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  a 
single  square  foot  of  our  territory,  unless  it 
first  be  baptized  in  blood  and  fire.  That  is 
the  sentiment  of  the  great  majority  of  the 
people  of  the  North,  —  that  no  portion  of  the 
territory  of  this  Government  shall  ever  be  re- 
leased from  our  possession.  We  understand 
that  this  Union  is  a  partnership  for  life,  and 
that  the  bonds  that  hold  us  together  cannot 
by  anv  fatuity  be  sundered  until  this  great 
Government  is  first  extinguished  and  its 
power  annihilated.  That,  sir,  is  our  senti- 


12 


ment  about  the  Union,  and  such  may  be  the 
present  sentiment  about  annexation.  But  I 
have  no  doubt  what  the  future  sentiment  of 
the  country  will  be  about  annexation.  I  have 
no  doubt  we  will  have  Central  America  in 
this  Government,  and  all  between  this  and 
Central  America  also. 

Well,  sir,  we  have  now  come  to  the  grand 
missionary  age  of  the  world,  in  which  we  do 
not  send  our  preachers  alone,  perplexing 
people  who  are  in  ignorance  and  barbarism 
with  abstract  theological  dogmas;  but  with 
the  preachers  we  send  the  church,  we  send 
the  school,  we  send  the  mechanic  and  the 
farmer ;  we  send  all  that  makes  up  great  and 
flourishing  communities ;  we  send  the  powers 
that  build  cities  ;  we  send  steam-engines,  sir, 
which  are  the  greatest  apostles  of  liberty  that 
this  country  has  ever  seen.  That  is  the 
modern  kind  of  missionary  emigration,  and  it 
has  wonderful  power  on  this  continent,  and 
is  destined  to  have  on  the  world,  too,  for  it  is 
just  as  good  against  one  kind  of  evil  as 
another ;  and  it  can  just  as  well  be  exerted 
against  idol  worship  in  Hindostan  and  China, 
as  against  oppression  and  despotism  in  Cen- 
tral America. 

But  we  take  the  countries  that  are  nearest 
first ;  and  now  we  propose  to  use  this  mighty 
power  in  originating  a  nation  in  quick  time 
for  Central  America.  We  read  of  a  time 
when  "  a  nation  shall  be  born  in  a  day."  I 
think  it  may  be .  done  in  some  such  way  as 
this.  By  tlu's  method  of  emigration  the  pio- 
neer does  not  go  into  the  wilderness 

"Alone,  unfriended,  melancholy,  slow, 
Dragging  at  each  remove  a  length'ning  chain," 

stealing  away  from  the  institutions  of  religion 
and  education,  himself  and  family ;  but  Chris- 
tianity herself  goes  hand  in  hand  with  the 
pioneer ;  and  not  Christianity  alone,  but  the 
offspring  of  Christianity,  an  awakened  intel- 
ligence, and  all  4he  inventions  of  which  she 
is  the  mother ;  creating  all  the  differences  be- 
tween an  advanced  and  enlightened  commu- 
nity and  one  in  degradation  and  ignorance. 
Sir,  in  years  gone  by,  our  emigration  has 
ever  tended  toward  barbarism  ;  but  now,  by 
this  method,  it  is  tending  to  a  higher  civiliza- 
tion than  we  have  ever  witnessed.  Why,  sir, 
by  this  plan,  a  new  community  starts  on  as 
high  a  plane  as  the  old  one  had  ever  arrived 
at ;  and  leaving  behind  the  dead  and  decayed 
branches  which  encumbered  the  old,  with  the 


vigorous  energies  of  youth  it  presses  on  and 
ascends.  Sir,  such  a  State  will  be  the  State 
of  Kansas,  eclipsing  in  its  progress  all  the 
other  States  of  this  nation,  because  it  was 
colonized  in  this  way.  The  people,  in  this 
way,  have  not  to  serve  half  a  century  of  pro- 
bation in  semi-barbarism.  They  begin  with 
schools  and  churches,  and  you  will  see  what 
the  effect  is  upon  communities  that  are  so 
established. 

But  I  will  speak  now  of  that  which  consti- 
tutes the  peculiar  strength  of  emigration  of 
this  kind ;  and  that  is  the  profit  of  the  thing.  I 
have  shown  you  how  efficient  it  is,  and  I  will 
now  show  you  how  the  method  works,  to  some 
extent.  It  is  profitable  for  every  one  con- 
nected with  it ;  it  is  profitable  to  the  people 
where  the  colonies  go  ;  it  is  profitable  to  the 
people  of  the  colonies ;  and  it  is  profitable  to 
the  company,  which  is  the  guiding  star  and 
the  protecting  power  of  the  colonies.  It  does 
good  everywhere.  It  does  evil  nowhere. 

Sir,  you  cannot  resist  a  power  like  this.  A 
good  man  often  feels  regret  when  he  knows 
that  by  promoting  a  good  cause  he  is  at  the 
same  time  sacrificing  his  own  means  of  doing 
good,  and  is  becoming  weaker  and  weaker 
every  day.  It  is  a  great  drawback  upon 
beneficent  enterprises,  even  upon  philan- 
thropic and  Christian  enterprises,  that  the 
men  who  sustain  them  are  lessening  their  own 
means  of  doing  good  by  it.  Sir,  it  is  a  great 
mistake  to  suppose  that  a  good  cause  can  only 
be  sustained  by  the  life-blood  of  its  friends. 
But  when  a  man  can  do  a  magnanimous  act, 
when  he  can  do  a  decidedly  good  thing,  and 
at  the  same  time  make  money  by  it,  all  his 
faculties  are  in  harmony.  [Laughter.]  You 
do  not  need  any  great  argument  to  induce 
men  to  take  such  a  position,  if  you  can  only 
induce  them  to  believe  that  such  is  the  effect. 
Well,  sir,  such  is  the  effect ;  and  now  let  us 
apply  it  to  the  people  of  Central  America. 
What  reason  will  they  have  to  complain,  if 
we  send  among  them  our  colonies,  organized 
in  this  way  with  their  sub-soil  plows,  their 
crow-bars,  their  hoes,  their  shovels,  and  their 
garden-seeds  ?  What  reason  will  they  have 
to  complain  ?  Why,  the  fact  is,  that,  unless 
our  civilization  is  superior  to  theirs,  the  effort 
would,  in  the  beginning,  be  a  failure;  it  never 
can  make  one  inch  of  progress.  Then,  sir, 
if  we  succeed  at  all,  we  succeed  in  planting  a 
civilization  there  which  is  superior  to  theirs ; 
we  plant  that  or  none.  It  is  impossible  for  an 


13 


inferior  civilization  to  supplant  a  superior 
civilization  except  by  violence,  and  it  is  al- 
most impossible  to  do  it  in  that  way. 

Well,  sir,  if  we  give  them  a  better  civiliza- 
tion, the  tendency  of  that  better  civiliza- 
tion is  to  increase  the  value  of  real  estate ; 
for  the  value  of  property,  the  value  of  real 
estate,  depends  upon  the  character  of  the 
men  who  live  upon  the  land,  as  well  as  upon 
the  number  of  men  who  live  upon  it.  Now, 
sir,  we  either  make  an  absolute  failure  in  this 
thing,  and  do  not  trouble  them  at  all,  or  we 
give  them  a  better  civilization,  and,  in  addi- 
tion to  that,  we  give  them  wealth. 

Thus,  sir,  with  bands  of  steel  we  bind  the 
people  of  Central  America  to  us  and  to  our 
interests,  by  going  among  them  in  this  way ; 
and  they  cannot  have  reason  to  complain, 
nor  will  they  complain.  If  we  had  approached 
them  in  this  way  two  years  ago,  without  this 
miserable  meddlesome  method,  induced  and 
warranted,  or  supposed  to  be  warranted,  by 
the  neutrality  laws,  we  would  have  filled  Cen- 
tral America  to  overflowing  by  this  time,  and 
would  have  had  with  us  the  blessings  of  every 
native  citizen  in  that  portion  of  country. 

Now,  sir,  if  such  is  the  way,  if  such  is  toe 
power,  if  such  is  the  effect  of  this  method,  to 
the  emigrants,  and  to  the  people  among  whom 
they  settle,  why  should  we  not  now  adopt  it 
in  reference  to  Central  America  V  And  what 
is  the  method  ?  Why,  it  is  as  plain  and  sim- 
ple as  it  can  be.  It  is  just  to  form  a  moneyed 
corporation  which  shall  have  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  capital;  which  shall  then 
obtain  and  spread  information  through  the 
country,  by  publications,  indicating  what  are 
the  natural  resources  of  Central  America,  and 
the  inducements  to  emigrate  thither ;  show- 
ing how  it  is  situated  in  relation  to  commerce, 
and  how,  of  necessity,  there  must  speedily  be 
built  upon  that  soil  a  flourishing  Common- 
wealth. Then  you  have  to  apply  a  portion 
of  these  means  to  buying  land  and  to  sending 
out  steam  engines,  and  to  building  some  hotels 
to  accommodate  the  people  who  go  there, 
and  also  some  receiving  houses  for  the  emi- 
grants. Establish  there,  and  encourage  there 
the  establishment  of  the  mechanic  arts,  and 
I  tell  you  that  every  steam  engine  you  send 
there  will  be  the  seat  of  a  flourishing  town  : 
every  one  will  be  an  argument  for  people  to 
go  there  ;  for  they  talk  louder  than  individu- 
als a  thousand  times,  and  they  are  more  con- 
vincing a  thousand  times,  especially  to  an  ig- 


norant and  degraded  people,  than  any  thing 
men  can  say,  because  the  argument  is  ad- 
dressed to  the  senses  ;  it  makes  them  feel 
comfortable ;  it  gives  them  good  clothes ;  it 
gives  them  money.  These  are^  the  arguments 
to  address  to  an  ignorant  and  degraded 
people,  and  not  cannon  balls,  or  rifle  balls, 
nor  yet  mere  abstract  dogmas  about  liberty 
or  theology.  Then  let  this  company  be  or- 
ganized so  soon  as  you  fix  these  neutrality 
laws  so  that  we  can  get  off  without  these 
vexatious  executive  interferences.  [Laugh- 
ter.] Then  we  shall  see  how  the  thing  will 
work  in  Central  America. 

But,  sir,  I  expect,  when  the  people  of  the 
North  shall  hear  that  I  am  taking  this  view 
of  the  question,  that  the  timid  will  be  in- 
tensely terrified,  and  say  that  we  are  to  have 
more  slave  States  annexed  to  the  Union.  I 
have  not  the  slightest  apprehension  of  that 
result.  It  may  be  said  that  Yankees,  when 
they  get  down  into  Central  America,  will,  if 
the  climate  is  suited  for  it,  make  use  of  slave 
labor.  I  have  heard  that  argument  before ; 
and  it  has  been  asserted  that  the  Yankees 
who  go  into  slave  States  oftentimes  turn  slave- 
holders, and  outdo  the  Southern  men  them- 
selves. I  have  no  doubt  that  they  outdo 
them,  if  they  do  any  thing  in  that  line  at  all. 
[Laughter.]  The  Yankee  has  never  become 
a  slaveholder  unless  he  has  been  forced  to 
it  by  the  social  relations  of  the  slave  State 
where  he  lived  ;  and  the  Yankee  who  has  be- 
I  come  a  slaveholder,  has,  every  day  of  his 
life  thereafter,  felt  in  his  very  bones  the  bad 
economy  of  the  system.  It  could  not  be 
otherwise.  Talk  about  our  Yankees,  who  go 
to  Central  America,  becoming  slaveholders ! 
Why,  sir,  we  can  buy  a  negro  power,  in  a 
steam  engine,  for  ten  dollars  [laughter],  and 
we  can  clothe  and  feed  that  power  for  one 
year  for  five  dollars  [renewed  laughter] ; 
and  are  we  the  men  to  give  Si 000  for  an 
African  slave,  and  $150  a  year  to  feed  and 
clothe  him  ? 

No,  sir.  Setting  aside  the  arguments 
about  sentimentality  and  about  philanthropy 
on  this  question,  setting  aside  all  poetry  and 
fiction,  he  comes  right  down  to  the  practical 
question — is  it  profitable  ?  The  Yankee  re- 
plies, "  not  at  all."  Then  there  is  no  danger  of 
men  who  go  from  Boston  to  Central  America 
I  ever  owning  slaves,  unless  they  are  compelled 
to  by  their  social  relations  there.  If  a  man 
goes  from  Boston  into  Louisiana,  and  nobody 


•will  speak  to  him  unless  he  has  a  slave ,  no- 
body will  invite  him  to  a  social  entertainment 
unless  he  owns  a  negro ;  and  if  he  cannot , 
get  a  wife  unless  he  has  a  negro ;  then,  sir,  < 
very  likely  he  may  make  up  his  mind  to  own 
a  negro.     [Laughter.]     But  I  tell  you  that : 
he  will  repent  of  it  every  day  while  he  has 
him.     He  cannot  whistle  "  Yankee  Doodle  " 
•with  the  same  relish  as  before.     He  cannot , 
•whittle  in  the  same  free  and  easy  manner,  j 
He  used  to  cut  with  the  grain,  with  the  knife-  , 
edge  from  him ;  now,  he  cuts  across  the  grain  \ 
with  the  knife-edge  towards  him.     The  doleful  j 
fact  that  he  owns  a  negro,  is  a  tax  upon  every 
pulsation  of  his  heart.     Poor  man  !     There  I 
is  no  inducement  for  the  Yankees  to  spread  • 
slavery  in  Central  America,  and  there  is  no  ' 
power  in  any  other  part  of  the  country  to  do 
it.     Therefore,  most  fearlessly  do  I  advocate 
the  Americanizing  of  Central  America.    We 
must  have  some  outlet  for  our  overwhelming 
population.     Necessity  knows    no  law ;  and 
if  we  cannot  have  Central  America,  we  must 
have  the   Indian   Territory ;  we   must   have 
something ;   we   are   not   exhausted  in   our 
power  of  emigration ;  we  are  worse  off  than 
we   were   before    the   opening  of  Kanzas. 
Not  one-half  of  ouf  natural  increase  has  been  | 
exhausted  in  colonizing  that  Territory,  and ! 
furnishing  people  for   Oregon  and  Washing- 
ton.    We  might,  as  I  told  you,  make  eight ! 
States  a  year,  if  we  only  used  our  forces  eco-  ; 
rvmically  ;  and  we  will  use  them  economi- 
cally by  establishing,  not  for  the  present  time  j 
only,  but  for  all  coming  time,  this  system  of  j 
organized  emigration.     Just  as  fast  as  this 
has  become  understood  in  the  country  — j  ust 
as  far  as  it  is  known  to  the  people  —  not  a  ! 
single  man  who  has  any  sense  will  emigrate 
in   any  other  way  than   by   colonies.     Just' 
look  at  the  difference  between  men  ^oin<T  in 

o  O 

a  colony  and  going  alone.     Suppose  a  man 
goes  to   Central  America,  and  settles  there ! 
alone  ;  what  is  his  influence  upon  real  estate  ! 
by  settling  there  alone  V     There  is  no  appre- 
ciable difference  from  what  it   was  before  ; 
but  if  he  goes  there  with  five  hundred  men  ! 
from  the  city  of  Boston  to  establish  a  town, 
by  that  very  act  he  has  made  himself  wealthy. 
I  can  point    to  numerous  examples  of    the 
kind.     Hence  this  making  money  by  organ- 
ized emigration  is  not  going  to  be  speedilv 
relinquished.     Depend  upon  it  that  we  have 
only  begun  to  use  it,  and  that  we  have  not . 


used  it  with  the  efficiency  with  which  it  will 
be  used  in  a  year  to  come. 

Now,  sir,  for  these  reasons  I  hope  that  the 
committee  to  which  this  question  shall  be 
referred,  will  so  modify  and  elucidate  the 
neutrality  laws,  that  we  shall  not  hereafter 
be  subjected  to  this  executive  interference. 
And,  in  accordance  with  the  views  I  have 
expressed,  I  now  offer  the  following  amend- 
ment : 

"  And,  also,  that  said  committee  report,  so 
far  as  they  may  be  able,  the  present  social  and 
political  condition  of  the  people  of  Nicaragua, 
and  whether  they  invite  colonies  from  the 
United  States  to  settle  among  them ;  and, 
also,  whether  the  soil,  climate,  and  other  nat- 
ural advantages  of  that  country  are  such  as 
to  encourage  emigration  thither  from  the 
Northern  States  of  this  Confederacy." 

Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  will  state  briefly  my 
reasons  for  submitting  that  amendment.  The 
gentleman  from  Mississippi  (Mr.  Quitman), 
referred  to  the  social  and  political  condition 
of  the  people  of  Central  America,  as  a  pro- 
per basis,  I  think  he  said,  for  our  action. 
Therefore,  with  open  arms,  do  we  welcome 
that  gentleman  and  his  associates  to  our  no- 
ble brotherhood  of  missionary  political  regen- 
erators. For  myself,  I  am  willing  to  take 
the  gentleman's  words  about  the  necessity  of 
something  being  done  to  aid  these  people ; 
but  in  grave  matters  of  legislation  like  this, 
the  committee  having  the  subject  in  charge 
should  first  fully  investigate  in  reference  to 
the  matter  suggested  by  my  amendment. 

I  do  not  intend  any  offensive  sectionalism 
by  using  the  word  Northern ;  that  the  com- 
mittee .should  inquire  whether  the  natural 
advantages  of  soil  and  climate  of  Central 
America  were  such  as  to  invite  emigration 
thither  from  the  Northern  States.  I  so 
phrased  the  amendment  because,  as  I  have 
shown  you,  the  Northern  States  are  the  only 
ones  which  can  furnish  emigration  that  would 
be  of  any  consequence  to  Central  America. 
We  would  be  glad  to  receive  whatever  help 
the  States  on  the  Gulf  could  give  us,  but 
it  is  impossible  for  them  to  give  much  help  in 
this  work.  And  because  the  Northern  States 
have  the  power  in  this  matter,  and  because 
the  Southern  States  have  not  the  power,  I 
have  used  the  words,  that  the  committee  shall 
inquire  specially  whether  the  climate  and 
the  soil  are  such  as  to  encourage  emigration 


15 


to  Central  America  from  the  Northern  States. 
If,  however,  there  be  objection  to  it,  I  will 
strike  out  the  word  "  Northern,"  and  leave 
the  inquiry  to  be  general. 


A  more  withering  reply  was  never  made 
to  the  filibusteros  of  the  country.  This 
speech  met  them  on  their  own  ground,  where 
they  never  expected  to  be  reached.  They 
thought  of  the  populous  North,  pouring  forth 
its  surplus  population  after  an  organized  sys- 
tem, and  they  trembled  for  their  chances. 
Whore  numbers  conquer,  they  knew  they 
must  go  down  before  them.  Mr.  Thayer's 
peculiar  manner,  too,  told  as  effectively  as 
his  matter.  The  Representatives'  Hall  was 
alive  all  the  while  with  laughter.  But  the 
hand-writing  which  this  single  speech  served 
to  bring  out  upon  the  wall  read  thus  :  EMI- 
GRATION. The  speaker  stood  forth- the  ac- 
knowledged apostle  of  "  Manifest  Destiny.'' 
lie  preached  only  the  Civilization  of  Labor. 

On  the  25th  of  March,  1858,  Mr.  Thayer 
delivered  another  speech  on  the  floor,  en- 
titled, "  The  Suicide  of  Slavery  ;  "  full  of  the 
same  characteristics  as  his  previous  speech, 
but  more  compact  and  solid,  more  thoroughly 
considered,  and  requiring,  from  the  nature  of 
the  theme,  a  strain  of  philosophic  reflection 
in  its  treatment,  yet  it  flashed  with  bright 
streaks  of  sarcasm,  was  alive  with  humor,  and 
challenged  serious  attention  on  all  sides.  It 
was  a  capital  ellbrt,  and  developed  the  Emi- 
gration theory  in  a  waf  likely  to  make  a  per- 
manent impression.  But  the  passage  rela- 
tive to  the  South  as  a  Church,  and  what  it 
had  been  doing  for  the  Africans,  is  one  of 
the  finest  pieces  of  satire  we  ever  met  with 
in  our  reading  of  oratory.  Theodore  Parker 
said  of  it,  —  "  John  Quincy  Adams  used  sa- 
tire in  his  way,  and  that,  too,  quite  powerful- 
ly ;  but  his  satire  was  quantitatively  great, — 
Mr.  Thayer's  is  qualitatively  nice  and  fine. 
There  is  no  reply  to  such  things.  The  ac- 
count of  the  trials,  dangers,  and  sufferings  of 
the  South  to  con  vert  the  heathen,  is  masterly;  i 
it  is  worthy  of  Dean  Swift,  but  it  is  finer  and  j 
subtler  than  any  thing  I  remember  from  him."  | 

The  following  is  the  speech  itself:  — 

It  may  be  expected,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  at  j 
this  time  I  should  say  something  in  defence ' 
of  the  Pilgrims,  and  of  the  State  of  Massachu- j 
setts ;  for  they  have  been  repeatedly  assailed  • 


on  this  floor,  within  the  last  two  weeks.  But 
I  shall  make  no  defence.  There  are  some 
things  which  I  never  attempt  to  defend. 
Among  these  are  the  Falls  of  Niagara,  the 
White  Mountains  of  New  Hampshire,  the 
Atlantic.  Ocean,  Plymouth  Rock,  Bunker 
Hill,  and  the  history  of  Massachusetts.  Any 
man  may  assail  either  or  all  of  them  with 
perfect  impunity,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned. 
And  words  of  disparagement  or  vituperation 
directed  against  either  of  these  objects,  by 
any  assailant,  excite  in  me  feelings  very  dif- 
ferent from  those  of  indignation  —  whether 
the  assailant  comes  with  a  bow  as  long  as 
that  of  the  bold  Eobin  Hood,  or  with  a  bow 
of  shorter  range,  like  that  of  the  gentleman 
from  Alabama  [Mr.  Shorter]  [Laughter.] 
But  I  deprecate  the  disposition  that  impels 
these  shafts  against  the  sister  States  of  this 
confederacy.  I  deprecate  this  sectional 
animosity  whenever  and  wherever  I  sec  it 
evinced.  I  have  heard  too  much  of  the  ag- 
gression of  the  North  and  of  the  aggressions 
of  the  South,  in  the  past,  to  be  very  much  in 
love  with  either  of  these  ideas.  I  have  never 
been  accustomed  to  speak  of  the  aggressions 
of  the  slave  power,  and  I  have  no  purpose  of 
doing  it  now  or  hereafter.  If  the  one-hun- 
dreth  part  of  the  people  of  this  country  can 
make  dangerous  aggressions  on  the  rights  and 
interests  of  the  other  ninety-nine  hundredth 
parts  of  the  people,  either  by  the  force  of 
strength  or  by  the  arts  of  diplomacy,  I  assure 
you  that  I  will  be  the  last  man  to  complain 
of  it.  I  think  that  this  slavery  question  is  al- 
together too  small  a  question  to  disturb  so 
great  a  people  as  inhabit  the  United  States 
of  America. 

For  myself,  I  was  always  in  favor  of  popu- 
lar sovereignty,  rightly  so  called.  I  am  ready, 
for  one,  to  agree  to-day  that  the  Territories 
belonging  to  this  Government  shall  be  open 
to  settlement  at  any  time,  when  Congress 
thinks  fit  so  to  open  them,  and  that  the  peo- 
ple of  all  parts  of  the  country  shall  go  into 
them,  with  the  assurance  of  absolute  and  com- 
plete non-intervention;  with  the  assurance 
that  whenever  any  chief  executive,  official, 
or  non-resident,  shall  interfere,  by  fraud  or 
violence,  in  their  affairs,  he  shall  either  be 
impeached  or  hanged ;  with  the  assurance 
that  when  the  people  shall  have  the  ratio  of 
representation  required  by  law,  and  shall 
come  to  Congress  with  a  Constitution,  repub- 
lican in  form,  they  shall  be  admitted  into  the 


16 


Union  as  a  State.  This,  sir,  is  popular  sov-  , 
ereignty,  and  it  is  what  was  practised  in  this  ; 
country  two  centuries  ago. 

The  people  of  the  Plymouth  colony  had 
the  privilege  of  choosing  their  own  Governor, 
and  of  making  their  own  laws.  The  same 
was  true  of  the  New  Haven  colony,  and  of  ; 
the  colony  of  the  Providence  Plantations,  j 
They  alway  did  it.  I  believe  the  Crown  of  { 
England  never  appointed  a  Governor  for 
these  colonies;  certainly  not  for  the  last  two. 
But  were  those  people,  without  ever  having 
exercised  the  right  of  self-government,  bet- 
ter prepared  to  govern  themselves  than  are 
our  people,  educated  under  our  State  Gov- 
ernments, who  go  into  our  territories  ?  Why, 
then,  should  we  continue  to  have  an  "  Ahab 
to  trouble  Israel,"  while  he  lays  the  blame  of 
his  own  misconduct  upon  the  emigrant  aid 
societies  ?  Why  not  cut  off  these  Territoi'ies 
from  all  connection  with  the  General  Govern- 
ment, legislative  or  executive  ?  Then  we 
shall  have  no  more  agitation  in  Congress,  and 
no  more  contention  in  the  Territories.  But 
so  long  as  this  connection  continues,  so  long 
as  we  have  a  President  trying  to  bias  by  his 
appointments,  and,  perhaps,  by  the  United 
States  troops,  the  will  of  the  people  so  long 
shall  we  have  agitation,  and  we  shall  have 
enough  of  it. 

Well,  sir,  I  have  nothing  to  find  fault  about. 
I  am  very  well  pleased  with  the  present  ten- 
dency of  events.  But,  sir,  there  are  those 
who  are  dissatisfied,  and  who  are  inclined  to 
invoke  a  certain  deity  —  I  think  a  false  deity 
— which  presides  over  a  portion  of  this  Union ; 
a  dcitv  which  has  been  invoked  by  great  men 
on  great  occasions,  and  by  little  men  on  little 
occasions,  for  a  long  time  past  —  a  deity  in 
whose  expected  presence  both  the  people  and 
the  politicians  have  sometimes  stood  aghast — 
"  when  he,"  in  prospect  only,  "  from  his  hor- 
rid hair  shook  pestilence  and  war."  This 
sulphurous  god  is  Disunion.  This  Capitol 
Hill  has  been  a  veritable  Mount  Carmel  for 
the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  upon  which  ex- 
periments have  been  tried  with  this  bogus 
deity.  One  day  upon  Mount  Carmel  was  suf- 
ficient to  determine  the  destiny  of  Baal  and 
his  prophets.  But  here,  we,  the  most  patient 
people  in  the  world,  witness  these  invocations 
year  ajler  year,  with  exemplary  endurance, 
expecting  that  the  great  Is-to-be  will  some 
time  come.  And  you  and  I,  Mr.  Chairman, 
even  during  the  present  session  of  Congress, 


have  witnessed  attempts  to  kindle  here  the 
fires  upon  the  altar  of  Southern  rights.  But 
the  sacrifice,  the  altar,  and  the  spectators, 
were  as  cold  as  alabaster.  The  prophets  only 
were  warm ;  but  they  were  warm,  not  from 
the  presence  of  the  god,  but  from  his  absence. 
He  does  not  make  his  appearance.  The 
great  Is-to-be  does  not  come.  He  has  either 
gone  on  a  very  long  journey,  or  else  he  is  in 
a  very  deep  sleep. 

Well,  sir,  shall  we  have  this  deity  of  Dis- 
union invoked  forever  ?  Who  is  to  blame  ? 
If  the  North  has  given  cause,  what  have  we 
done  ?  What  cause  of  disunion  has  ever  pro- 
ceeded from  us  ?  Have  you  not  had  every 
thing  your  own  way  ?  Have  we  not  let  you 
have  the  Democratic  party  to  use  as  you 
please  V  [Laughter.]  Have  you  not  had 
the  Government  for  a  long  time  ?  And  have 
we  not  let  you  use  it  just  as  you  had  a  mind 
to  ?  We,  sir,  were  busy  about  our  commerce, 
extending  it  around  the  world ;  about  our  rail- 
roads ;  our  internal  improvements ;  our  col- 
leges, and  all  those  things  which  interest  our 
people.  We  knew  that  you  had  a  taste  for 
governing,  and  that  by  the  indulgence  you 
might  be  gratified  without  serious  injury  to 
us.  For  many  years  you  have  had  your  own 
way,  but  now  you  come  here  and  cry  out 
"  disunion."  Why,  what  more  can  we  do  ? 

Well,  it  may  be  that  we  have  encouraged 
a  mistake  on  your  part.  It  may  be  that  we 
have  given  you  some  reason  to  suppose  that 
this  temporary  courtesy  of  governing,  which 
we  have  extended,  was  a  permanent  right. 
However,  if  you  have  fallen  into  that  error, 
we  will,  perhaps,  at  some  future  time  disabuse 
and  correct  you.  But  whatever  blame  there 
is  anywhere,  whatever  cause  there  is  for  dis- 
union, must  attach  to  the  action  of  the  slave 
power,  commanding  and  controlling  the  De- 
mocratic party,  and  to  no  one  else  in  the 
country.  Therefore,  at  this  time,  I  come 
with  exultation — not,  to  be  sure,  with  malig- 
nant exultation — to  speak  for  a  few  moments 
upon  the  decline  and  fall  of  Slavery — nay, 
sir,  further,  upon  the  suicide  of  Slavery  in 
this  land.  I  will  show  you  by  what  acts  the 
two  most  important  pillars  of  its  support  have 
been  removed,  and  that  the  whole  system  of 
Slavery  must  therefore  fall.  And  these  two 
events  have  been  accomplished,  if  not  by  its 
direct  efforts,  at  least  by  the  connivance  of 
this  same  party,  impelled  by  this  same  con- 
trolling agency. 


17 


I  will  first  show  you  how  the  moral  power 
of  this  institution  has  been  destroyed,  by 
what  act,  and  then  I  will  show  you  how  and 
by  what  act  its  political  power  is  forever 
doomed.  But,  sir,  how  did  an  institution 
like  this  ever  have  a  moral  power  ?  is  a  ques- 
tion for  us  to  examine.  In  the  first  place, 
we  are  told  by  Southern  men  that  we  have  a 
nation  of  heathen  in  our  land ;  and  we  are 
told  by  the  same  authority  that  we  have  an 
institution  here  for  their  regeneration.  Now, 
sir,  if  we  have,  from  necessity,  a  nation  of 
heathen  in  our  land,  and  if  Slavery  is  an  in- 
stitution for  their  regeneration,  it  is  very  clear 
that  Slavery  has  a  moral  power.  But,  says 
the  gentleman  from  Georgia  [Mr.  Gartrell], 
speaking  of  negroes,  "  They  are  idle,  disso- 
lute, improvident,  lazy,  unthrifty,  who  think 
not  of  to-morrow,  who  provide  but  scantily 
for  to-day." 

I  will  also  give  you  other  proof.  Hero  it 
is :  — 

"  Who  would  credit  it,  that  in  these  years 
of  benevolent  and  successful  missionary  effort 
in  this  Christian  Republic,  there  are  over  two 
millions  of  human  beings  in  the  condition  of 
heathen,  and,  in  some  respects,  in  a  worse 


Here,  then,  is  a  field  for  great  missionary 
labor;  and  it  is  fortunate  that,  under  these 
circumstances,  we  happen  to  have  an  institu- 
tion which  is  perfectly  adapted  to  the  regen- 
eration of  a  lost  and  ruined  race.  I  quote 
from  the  honorable  member  from  the  State 
of  Virginia,  in  a  speech  delivered  here,  some 
time  ago,  in  the  House  of  Representatives: 

"  J  believe  that  the  institution  of  Slavery 
is  a  noble  one;  that  it  is  necessary  for  the 
good,  the  well-being,  of  the  negro  race. 
Looking  to  history,  I  go  further,  and  I  say, 
in  the  presence  of  this  assembly,  and  under 
all  the  imposing  circumstances  surrounding 
me,  that  I  believe  it  is  God's  institution.  Yes, 
sir,  if  there  is  any  thing  in  the  action  of  the 
great  Author  of  us  all ;  if  there  is  any  thing 
in  the  conduct  of  His  chosen  people;  if  there 
is  any  thing  in  the  conduct  of  Christ  himself, 
who  came  upon  this  earth,  and  yielded  up 
His  life  as  a  sacrifice,  that  all  through  His 
death  might  live  ;  if  there  is  any  thing  in  the 
conduct  of  His  Apostles,  who  inculcated  obe- 
dience on  the  part  of  slaves  towards  their 
masters  as  a  Christian  duty,  then  we  must 
believe  that  the  institution  is  from  God." — 
Hon.  Wm.  Smith,  of  Virginia,  in  a  .speech  in 


condition?'    From  long-continued  and  close  j  the  House  of  Representatives. 


observation,  we  believe  their  moral  and  re- 
ligious condition  is  such  that  they  may  justly 
be  regarded  as  the  heathen  of  this  Christian 
country." — Committee  of  Synod  of  Soutfi  Car- 
olina and  Georgia,  in  1833. 

"  After  making  all  reasonable  allowances, 


Again,  I  quote  from  the  speech  of  the  hon- 
orable gentleman  from  Georgia  [Mr.  Gart- 
rell], in  regard  to  this  same  sentiment : 

"  Every  sentiment  expressed  in  that  elo- 
quent extract  meets  my  hearty  approbation. 
As  a  Christian  man,  believing  in  the  teach- 


our   colored  population    can   be   considered,  i  ings  of  Holy  Writ,  I  am  here  to-day  before  a 
at  the   best,  but.  semi-heathens."  —  Kentucky    Christian  nation  to  re-affirm  and  re-announce 


Union's  Circular  to  the  Ministers  of  the  Gospel 
in  Kentucky,  1834. 

"  There  seems  to  be  an  almost  entire  ab- 
sence of  moral  principle  among  the  mass  of 
our  colored  population." — C.  W.  Gooch,  Esq., 
Prize  Essay  on  Agriculture  in  Virginia. 

"  There  needs  no  stronger  illustration  of 
the  doctrine  of  depravity  than  the  state  of 
human  nature  on  plantations  in  general.  * 
*  *  Their  advance  in  years  is  but  a  pro- 
gression to  the  higher  grades  of  iniquity." — 
Hon.  C.  C.  Pinckney,  Address  before  the  South 
Carolina  Agricultural  Society,  at  Charleston, 
1829,  second  edition,  pages  10,  12. 

The  Mary  ville  (Tennessee)  Intelligencer  of 
Oct.  4,  1835,  says  of  the  slaves  of  the  South- 
west, that  their  "  condition,  through  time,  will 
be  second  only  to  that  of  the  wretched  crea- 
tures in  hell." 


the  conclusion  to  which  that  distinguished 
gentleman  came  —  that  this  institution,  how- 
ever much  it  may  have  been  reviled,  is  of 
God." 

Mr.  Chairman,  these  are  not  the  only  au- 
thorities on  this  subject  You  and  I  have 
heard  from  the  other  side,  day  after  day,  quo- 
tations from  the  Bible,  intending  to  prove  the 
same  thing ;  and  you  and  I  know  that  there 
are  honest  men  in  the  slave  States  who  be- 
lieve that  this  is  a  fact.  I  have  seen  such  men 
myself,  and  have  conversed  with  them.  They 
have  told  me  that  Slavery  was  an  absolute 
curse ;  and  that  the  only  reason  why  they 
held  their  slaves  a  day  was,  that  they  owed, 
them  certain  religious  duties,  and  must  keep 


them 
Thev 


to  look   after   their   spiritual  welfare. 
feared  that  if  their  slaves  were  cast 


loose  upon  the  world,  with  nobody  to  look 


18 


after  their  spiritual  interest?,  they  would  be 
spiritually  lost.  I  heard  this  from  a  gentle- 
man from  Kentucky,  and  again  from  a  gentle- 
man from  Augusta,  Georgia,  and  I  believe  in 
my  heart  that  both  of  these  gentlemen  were 
honest  in  these  views. 

I  am  not  here  to  impugn  any  man's  motives. 
I  put  this  upon  the  ground  that  is  claimed  by 
Southern  men ;  and  when  I  listened  to  the 
gentlemen  on  the  other  side,  reading  honestly 
from  the  sacred  volume  in  defence  of  this  in- 
stitution, as  coming  from  God,  and  as  a  means 
for  the  regeneration  of  a  heathen  race  in  our 
land,  1  felt  impelled  to  use  the  language  of 
the  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  which  he  em- 
ployed on  Mars  Hill :  "  Oh !  Athenians,  I 
perceive  that  in  all  things  ye  are  exceedingly 
given  to  religion."  [Laughter.]  Now,  sir, 
since  this  institution  has  done  all  it  ever  can 
in  this  capacity,  and  since,  it  is  now  destroyed 
as  a  converting  and  regenerating  power,  I 
stand  here  to  give  it  its  proper  place  in  eccle- 
siastical history,  for  its  right  place  it  has 
never  yet  had. 

In  order  to  understand  what  position  it  is 
entitled  to,  we  must,  to  some  extent,  speak  by 
comparison,  because  we  cannot  speak  abso- 
lutely on  these  matters  of  religion.     The  re- 
ligious journals  of  the  free  States  have  often- 
times most  unreasonably  exulted   over  our 
religious  efforts,  when  they  contrasted  them 
with  the  efforts  of  our  Southern  brethren.     I 
have   seen   placed   in   parallel    columns,   in 
Northern  journals,  the  contributions  of  the 
free  States  and  the  contributions  of  the  slave 
States ;  and  there  were  mighty  words  of  ex- 
ultation, unbecoming  a  Christian  journal  or 
Christian  people  at  any  time,  when  it  was 
.  shown  that  our  contributions  for  foreign  mis- 
sions were  a  hundred-fold  more  than  yours. 
It  is  true  we  make  more  contributions.     The 
city  of  Boston  gives,  for  foreign  missions,  per- 
'.  baps  more  than  all  the  slave  States;  and  the 
city  of  New  York  perhaps  more  than  Boston. 
'But  what  of  that?     We  give  a  few  cents 
.  apiece,  and  only  a  few  cents,  for  foreign  mis- 
:  fions  each  year,  which  amounts  to  a  great 
.  sum,  because  we  are  a  great  people.     We 
si-nd   men   to  heathen  nations  far  over  the 
water,  to  toll  them  about  their  future  destiny. 
.We  arc  careful  not  to  send  our  best  men ;  we 
keep  our  Notts  and  AVaylands,  and  our  Beech- 
ers  and  Cheevers,  at  home  ;  but  sometimes  a 
Judson  escapes  from  us  before  we  know  what 


5     10 

Had 


he  is.     This  is  about  the  extent  we  submit  to 
self-sacrifice  for  the  sake  of  the  heathen. 

Is  there  any  cause  for  exultation  in  this, 
when  we  see  what  our   Southern  brethren 
have  done  and  are   doing  ?     When  have  we 
ever  taken  the  heathen  to  our  hearth-stones 
and  to  our  bosoms  ?     When  have  we  ever 
admitted   the  heathen   to  social  communion 
|  with   ourselves   and   our   children?     When 
!  have  we  ever  taken  the  heathen  to  our  large 
j  cities  to  show  them  the  works  of  art,  or  to  the 
I  watering   places   to   show   them   fashionable 
society  and  beautiful  scenery  ?    Did  you  ever 
I  see  a  Yankee  at  the  White  Sulphur  Springs 
'.  shedding  a  benign  religious  influence  over  a 
little  congregation  of  heathen  companions  ? 
j  [Laughter.]     We  have  pious  women  in  the 
j  Northern  States,  whose  bright  example  has 
;  made  attractive  the  paths  of  virtue  and  re- 
•  ligion.     Conspicuous  among  them,  in  every 
good  work,  are  the  wives  of  our  ministers  and 
i  deacons ;  but  not  on(i  of  these,  within   the 
I  range   of  my  acquaintance,   would  consider 
|  herself  qualified,  either  by  nature  or  by  grace, 
to  be  chambermaid,  dry-nurse,  and  spiritual 
viser,  to  ten  or  twenty  heathens  in  her  own 
;  family.     But,  sir,  had   these  worthy  dames 
j  been  noble  dames ;  had  they  come  down  to  us 
'  from  the  blood  of  the  Norman  Kings,  through 
i  the  bounding  pulses  of  sundry  cavaliers,  and 
;  then  had  been  willing  to  assume  these  humble 
i  offices  of  Christian  charity,  we  should  have 
!  believed  the  time,  so  often   prayed  for,  had 
;  already  come,  when  "  kings  should  be  fathers 
and  queens  nursing  mothers  in  the  church." 
i  Where,  then,  is  the  ground  for  this  exultation 
on  the  part  of  the  North  ?     I  tell  you  that  it 
cannot   be    prompted    by   any    thing   but   a 
I  rotund,  bulbous,  self-righteousness.    So  much, 
then,  for  the  social  sacrifices  of  our  Southern 
;  brethren. 

What  other  sacrifices  have  they  made  to 
I  regenerate  this  race  ?  Great  moral  and  in- 
j  tellectual  sacrifices.  I  will  read  what  South- 
I  ern  men  say  on  this  subject : 

Judge  Tucker,  of  Virginia,  said  in  1801 : 
"  I  say  nothing  of  the  baneful  effects  of 
;  Slavery   on   our    moral   character,    because 
you  know  I  have  long  been  sensible  of  this 
i  point." 

The  Presbyterian  Synod  of  Soutli  Carolina 
and  Georgia  said,  in  their  report  of  1834  : 

"  Those  only  who  have  the  management 
i  of  these  servants  know  what  the  hardening 


19 


effect  of  it  is  upon  their  own  feelings  towards 
them." 

Judge  Summers,  of  Virginia,  said,  in  a 
speech  in  1832,  in  almost  the  same  words: 

"  A  slave  population  produces  the  most 
pernicious  effect  upon  the  manners,  habits, 
and  character,  of  those  among  whom  it  exists." 

Judge  Nichols,  of  Kentucky,  in  a  speech 
in  1837,  said : 

"  The  deliberate  convictions  of  my  most 
matured  consideration  arc,  that  the  institution 
of  slavery  is  a  most  serious  injury  to  the  hab- 
its, manners,  and  morals,  of  our  white  popula- 
tion ;  that  it  leads  to  sloth,  indolence,  dissipa- 
tion, and  vice." 

So  said  Mr.  Jefferson  : 

"  The  man  must  be  a  prodigy  who  can 
retain  his  manners  and  morals  uncontami- 
natcd  "  [in  the  midst  of  slavery]. 

John  Kandolph  on  the  floor  of  Congress, 
said  : 

"  Where  arc  the  trophies  of  this  infernal 
traffie  ?  The  handcuffs,  the  manacle,  the 
blood-stained  cowhide  !  What  man  is  worse 
received  in  society  for  being  a  hard  master  ? 
Who  denies  the  hand  of  sister  or  daughter 
to  such  monsters  ?  " 

I  might  quote  a  hundred  other  Southern 
authorities  of  the  same  kind,  showing  the 
baneful  effect  of  this  institution  upon  the 
moral  and  intellectual  character  of  the  South. 
I  might  also  quote  from  the  United  States 
census.  I  have  the  papers  here,  but  time 
will  not  allow. 

Now,  in  addition  to  these  moral  and  intel- 
lectual sacrifices  which  our  Southern  breth- 
ren admit,  there  are  pecuniary  sacrifices 
which  you  know  to  be  very  great;  indeed, 
had  A  irginia,  been  free  fifty  years  acjo,  had 
she  been  exempt  from  this  great  tendency  to 
christianize  the  African  race,  she  would  have 
been  worth  more  this  day  than  all  the  Atlan- 
tic States  south  of  New  Jersey.  And  should 
she  by  any  cliance  become  free,  you  will  see 
her  wealth  and  her  population  increase  in  pro- 
portion as  this  missionary  spirit  is  diminished. 
[Laughter.]  It  is  true,  our  Southern  breth- 
ren, impressed  with  this  great  idea  of  chris- 
tianizing the  African  race,  having  for  their 
only  ambition  to  present  the  souls  of  their 
negroes,  without  spot  or  blemish,  before  the 
throne  of  the  Eternal,  have  sacrificed  almost 
every  tiling.  I  could  quote  from  Southern 
men  upon  this  subject.  The  sagacious  states- 


man who  governs  the  Old  Dominion,  in  a 
speech  a  few  years  ago,  said  : 

"  But  in  all  the  four  cardinal  resources  — 
wonderful  to  tell,  disagreeable  to  tell, shame- 
ful to  announce  —  but  one  source  of  all  four, 
in  time  past,  has  been  employed  to  produce 
wealth.  We  have  had  no  work  in  manufac- 
turing, and  commerce  has  spread  its  wings 
and  flown  from  us,  and  agriculture  has  only 
skimmed  the  surface  of  mother  earth.  Three 
out  of  the  four  cardinal  virtues  have  been 
idle  ;  our  young  men,  over  their  cigars  and 
toddy,  have  been  talking  politics,  and  the 
negroes  have  been  left  to  themselves,  until 
\ve  have  all  grown  poor  together." 

But  trials,  and  tribulations,  and  poverty, 
have  ever  beset  the  pathway  of  the  saints. 
In  the  earliest  days,  they  "  wandered  about 
in  sheep-skins  and  goat-skins,  persecuted,  af- 
flicted, tormented."  Even  now,  in  the  nine- 
teenth century,  the  condition  of  our  South- 
ern brethren  is  not  much  improved,  since 
they  are  compelled  "to  chase  the  stump- 
tailed  steer  over  sedge  patches  which  out- 
shine the  sun,  to  get  a  tough  steak,"  and  to 
listen  to  the  perpetual  cry  of  "  debts  !. debts ! " 
"taxes!  taxes!" 

In  this  age  of  material  progress,  you  have 
seen  the  North  outstrip  you  ;  but,  with  true 
Christian  patience  and  Christian  devotion, 
you  have  adhered  to  the  great  work  of  regen- 
erating the  heathen.  [Laughter.]  Through 
evil  report  and  through  good  report,  reproach- 
ed and  maligned  abroad  by  those  who  did  not 
understand  your  motives,  and,  worst  of  all, 
sometimes  abused  at  home  by  the  ungrateful 
objects  of  your  Christian  charity,  you  have 
still  presst.-d  on  towards  the  mark  of  your 
high  calling.  Now,  sir,  when  was  there  ever 
a  class  of  men  so  devoted  and  so  self-sacri- 
ficing ?  I  have  read  the  history  of  the  Apos- 
tles; I  have  read  the  history  of  the  Reformers, 
of  the  Scotch  Covenanters,  of  the  Huguenots, 
and  of  the  Crusaders;  and,  I  tell  you,  not  in 
one  or  all  of  these  have  I  seen  any  such  he- 
roic self-sacrifice  for  the  good  of  another  race, 
or  for  the  good  of  other  men,  as  I  do  see  in 
the  history  of  these  slave  States.  I  have 
seen  Fox's  Book  of  Martyrs,  but  there  is 
nothing  in  that  to  compare  at  all  with  the 
niartvrs  of  the  South.  The  census  of  the 
United  States  is  the  greatest  book  of  martyrs 
ever  printed.  [Laughter.]  Other  books 
treat  of  martyrs  as  individuals ;  the  census 


20 


of  the  United  States  treats  of  them  by  coun- 
ties and  by  States.  I  can  see  how  a  man, 
impressed  with  a  grand  and  noble  sentiment, 
should  perhaps,  in  excitement  or  in  an  emer- 
gency, give  up  his  life  in  support  of  it;  but 
cannot  see  how  a  man  can  sacrifice  his  friends, 
his  family,  and  his  country,  for  a  religious 
idea  or  an  abstraction. 

Here,  then,  sir,  is  the  position  of  our  South- 
ern brethren  upon  this  subject.  But  the 
worst  is  yet  to  be  told — the  doleful  conclusion 
of  the  whole  matter.  They  have  made  sacri- 
fices, and  it  seems  to  me  that  they  were  en- 
titled to  the  rewards  for  them ;  and  I  doubt 
not  that  they  have  often  consoled  themselves 
in  contemplating  the  rewards  in  the  future 
which  must  await  them  for  such  good  services 
in  the  present.  I  have  no  doubt,  sir,  that 
oftentimes,  seeing  they  have  not  treasures  laid 
up  on  earth,  they  supposed  they  had  treasures 
laid  up  in  heaven.  [Laughter.]  But  just  at 
that  time,  when  they  seemed  to  be  almost  in 
the  fruition  of  their  labors,  when  the  gentle- 
man from  Missouri  [Mr.  Anderson],  in  great 
exultation  of  spirit,  was  speaking  of  the  insti- 
tution that  had  raised  the  negro  from  barbar- 
ism to  Christianity  and  civilization,  and  when 
the  gentleman  from  Indiana  [Mr.  Hughes] 
had  caught  the  inspiration,  and  said,  that  al- 
though the  body  of  the  African  might  be  toil- 
ing under  the  lash,  "  his  soul  was  free,  and 
could  converse  on  the  sublimest  principles  of 
science  and  philosophy  " — when  faith  had  al- 
most become  sight — just  then,  sir,  out  comes 
the  Supreme  Court  with  the  decision  that 
A  NEGRO  HAS  NO  SOUL  !  [Laughter.] 

"Angels  and  ministers  of  grace  defend  us!" 
All  these  treasures  that  were  supposed  to 
have  been  laid  up  "  where  neither  moth  nor 
rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  do  not 
break  through  nor  steal,"  have  been  invaded 
by  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and 
scattered  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven.  More 
than  two  centuries  of  prayers  and  tears,  of 
heroic  self-sacrifice  and  Christian  devotion, 
of  faith  and  hope,  of  temporal  and  spiritual 
agony,  have  come  to  this  "  lame  and  impo- 
tent conclusion."  [Laughter.]  The  moral 
dignity  of  the  grandest  missionary  enterprise 
of  this  age  is  annihilated. 

As  a  Northern  man,  I  stand  here  a  disin- 
terested spectator  of  these  events.  If  I  do 
not  like  the  decision  of  the  court,  I  have  a 
higher  law.  The  negro  himself  can  appeal 
to  the  court  of  heaven ;  but  what  refuge  has 


the  Southern  church  ?  [Renewed  laughter.] 
None  whatever.  This  decision  is  a  blow, 
direct  and  terrible,  falling  with  crushing  vio- 
lence upon  our  Southern  brethren.  This 
Supreme  Court,  with  cruel  and  relentless 
hostility,  has  persecuted  the  Southern  church 
as  the  dragon  of  the  Apocalypse  pursued  the 
woman  into  the  wilderness,  seeking  to  devour 
her  offspring.  [Much  laughter.] 

What   motives   could   have   impelled   the 
court  to  this  act  ?     I  have  no  doubt  a  patri- 
otic motive.     I  am  not  here  to  impugn  the 
motives  of  any  man,  or  of  any  set  of  men, 
\  much  less  of  the  highest  judicial  tribunal  in 
i  this  land.     No  doubt,  sir,  their  motives  were 
;  patriotic,  for  they  had  witnessed  the  devasta- 
j  tion  of  this  terrible  religious  fanaticism  through 
!  the  South.     They  had  seen  the  ravages  of 
j  this   disastrous   missionary   monomania,   and 
i  they  determined  that  there  must  be  an  end 
i  of  it ;  and  how  could  they  so  effectually  end 
!  it  as  by  annihilating  at  once  the  object  of  its 
aims  and  aspirations.     That,  sir,  they  have 
done. 

Here,  then,  endeth  the  moral  power  of  the 
institution  of  Slavery. 

I  come  now  to  the  consideration  of  the 
event  which  just  as  surely  has  doomed  to  de- 
struction the  political  power  of  that  institution 
—  I  mean  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise measure  in  the  passage  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill.  That  act,  sir,  I  will  show  to 
you  —  if  it  ever  was  committed  by  the  slave 
power  —  to  have  been  a  suicidal  act.  What 
need  was  there  for  repealing  that  Compro- 
mise, or  of  admitting  Slavery  into  Kansas  by 
law  ?  Was  not  the  South  sure  enough  of  the 
Territory  as  it  was  before?  I  think  —  and 
this  is  my  honest  conviction  —  that  had  it  not 
been  for  that  act,  Kansas  would  have  been 
inevitably  a  slave  State.  We  of  the  North 
had  no  particular  interest  in  that  Territory. 
It  was  put  down  in  our  geographies  as  the 
great  American  desert.  We  had  not  consid- 
ered it  of  much  importance;  but  we  relied  on 
the  law  to  keep  Slavery  out  of  it,  and  to  pre- 
serve it  to  Freedom.  We  of  the  North  have 
had  too  high  an  idea  of  the  power  of  the 
General  Government  and  of  law,  cither  for 
Freedom  or  against  Freedom.  Sir,  this  Gen- 
eral Government  has  but  little  power  over 
this  question.  It  is  not  a  motive  power.  It  is 
only  a  registry,  an  exponent  of  power.  It  is 
the  log-book  of  the  ship  of  State,  and  not  the 
steam  engine  that  propels  the  ship,  or  the 


21 


wind  that  fills  the  canvas.     We  would  like  to 
have  the  log-book  kept  right,  to  show  us  our  ; 
true  position ;  but  we  do  not  now  consider  j 
the  Government  as  the  motive  power.     The  ; 
motive  power  of  this  nation,  as  of  all  nations,  j 
is  the  people  in  their  homes ;  and  as  the  peo-  i 
pie  in  their  homes  are,  so  is  your  character  ! 
and  so  is  your  progress.     If  the  people  in  j 
their  homes  in  Kansas  had  been  Pro-Slavery,  j 
what  could  the  North  have  opposed  to  it  ?  It ! 
was    emigration,  and   emigration   only,  that  j 
could  have  made  Kansas  a  State,  either  slave  j 
or  free.     The  great  law  that  governs  emigra-  j 
tion  is  this  ;  that  emigration  follows  the  paral-  ! 
lels  of  latitude  westward.     Under  that  law,  | 
Kansas  would  have  been  settled  entirely  by  a  i 
Pro-Slavery  people,  as  was  the  southern  part  : 
of  Indiana,  and  as  was  the  southern  part  of 
Illinois.     We  in  the   North,  trusting  in  the  j 
protection  of  the  law,  would  have   had   no  j 
remedy.     People  in  favor  of  Slavery  would 
have  gone  there,  and  if  they  were  compelled 
at  first  to  adopt  a  free  Constitution  in  order 
to  shape  their  institutions  according  to  any 
law  concerning  the  Territory,  they  might  have 
soon  reversed  that  position.     In  fact,  the  de- 
cision of  the  Supreme   Court  has  now  made 
any  such   thing   unnecessary.     They   might 
have  formed  just  such  a  Constitution  as  they 
pleased.     Well,  then,  we  would  thus,  in  all 
probability  have  had  Kansas  a  slave   State 
without  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill.     But  the 
passage   of  that   bill,   if  Slavery  had    been 
certain  before,  seemed  to  the  majority  of  the 
people  in  the  North  to  make  it  almost  inevit- 
able.    History  warranted  this  fear.    Judging 
from  the  case  of  Indiana,  there  seemed  to  be 
no  chance  whatever  for  Freedom  in  Kansas, 
after   the   opportunity  for   Slavery  to  enter 
there  had  been  given.     There  was  Missouri 
on  the  confines  of  the  Territory  —  and  the 
most  densely  peopled  portion  of  Missouri,  too. 
Freedom-loving  men,  desiring  to  go  to  that 
Territory,  would  have  had  to  travel  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  miles.     The  men  who  lived 
on  the  line  of  Kansas,  as  well  as  other  South- 
ern men  who  entertained  the  same  idea  — 
though  they  did  not  express  it  then,  for  fear 
of  losing  the  bill  —  anticipated  that  the  pas- 
sage of  the  bill  would  settle  the  question  for 
Slavery  in  Kansas   forever.     That  was   the 
evidence  of   the   early   history  of  Indiana. 
When  that  Territory  was  opened  for  settle- 
ment, a  few  slaveholders,  perhaps  a  dozen  or 
a  score,  went  over  from  Kentucky,  and,  con- 


trary to  tnc  wishes  both  of  the  President  and 
Congress,  contrary  to  the  ordinance  of  1787, 
established  Slavery ;  and  they  obtained  such 
control  over  that  young  Territory,  that  peti- 
tions, signed  by  many  of  the  inhabitants,  pray- 
ing Congress  to  suspend  the  prohibition  of 
Slavery,  were  presented  to  Congress,  year 
after  year,  from  1803  to  1807.  These  few 
slaveholders  of  the  Territory  of  Indiana  ac- 
quired such  control  over  the  inhabitants  of 
that  Territory,  because  they  were  an  organ- 
ization, as  Slavery  is  everywhere  and  at  all 
times  an  organization.  It  was  a  concentra- 
tion of  capital,  a  concentration  of  influence, 
and  a  concentration  of  power,  which  our  emi- 
grants from  the  free  States,  coming  one  by 
one,  were  unable  to  resist;  and  had  it  not 
been  for  the  overwhelming  population  which 
poured  in  from  the  North  in  1807  and  1808, 
the  prohibition  of  Slavery  would  have  been 
suspended.  Had  it  not  been  for  John  Ran- 
dolph, it  would  have  been  suspended  in  1803  ; 
and  had  it  not  been  for  Mr.  Franklin  in  the 
Senate,  it  might  have  been  suspended  in  1807; 
and  both  of  these  were  Southern  men. 

Well,  sir,  I  have  said  that  slaveholders  arc 
everywhere  an  organization.  There  is  a 
community  of  interest,  a  bond  of  feeling  and 
of  sympathy,  which  combines  and  concen- 
trates all  efforts  to  defend  Slavery  where  it  is, 
and  to  extend  it  to  places  where  it  is  not.  I 
will  quote  from  the  last  number  of  De  Bow's 
Revieic,  everywhere  acknowledged  to  be  good 
Southern  authority.  In  an  article  defending 
the  New  England  Emigrant  Aid  Company, 
the  writer  says : 

"  We  of  the  South  have  been  practising 
'  Organized  Emigration  *  for  a  century,  and 
hence  have  outstripped  the  North  in  the  ac- 
quisition of  land.  The  owner  of  a  hundred 
slaves,  who,  with  his  overseer,  moves  to  the 
West,  carries  out  a  self-supporting,  self-insur- 
ing, well-organized  community.  This  is  the 
sort  of  '  Organized  Emigration '  which  expe- 
rience shows  suits  the  South  and  the  negro 
race,  whilst  Mr.  Thayer's  is  eoually  well 
adapted  to  the  whites." 

Then,  what  fault  can  be  found  with  our  ef- 
forts to  organize  Freedom  by  means  of  our 
emigrant  aid  societies,  that  enable  our  citi- 
zens to  go  to  the  Territories  in  companies  of 
twenty,  fifty,  one  hundred,  or  two  hundred,  to 
take  possession  of  the  West,  and  to  locate 
there  the  institutions  under  which  they  choose 
to  live  ? 


22 


And  here  I  come  to  the  defence  of  this  as- 
sociation. It  has  been  assailed,  time  and  j 
again,  on  this  floor,  and  I  have  never  been  ' 
allowed  even  the  privilege  of  putting  ques- 
tions to  its  assailants.  The  gentleman  from 
Missouri  (Mr.  Anderson)  called  it  "illegal 
and  unconstitutional."  It  has  been  so  as- 
sailed by  the  successor  of  Millard  Fillmore. 
But  where  is  the  proof?  Which  of  its  acts  has 
been  shown  to  be  illegal  or  unconstitutional  ? 
If  it  was  illegal  and  unconstitutional,  why 
has  not  the  organization  been  crushed  by  the 
courts  V  We  contend  that  any  organization 
which  is  allowed  to  continue  its  existence 
from  year  to  year,  and  to  carry  on  its  busi- 
ness, has  the  presumption,  at  least,  of  a  legal 
right  to  do  so.  AVe  claim  that  for  the  Em- 
igrant Aid  Company. 

But  the  gentleman  from  Missouri  professes 
to  have  authority  in  regard  to  this  matter. 
He  has  said  that  we  may  employ  this  emi- 
grant aid  society  in  promoting  emigration  to 
Central  America  and  to  foreign  countries, 
but  that  we  must  "  beware  "  how  we  do  so  in 
colonizing  the  Territories  of  this  Govern- 
ment. Mr.  Chairman,  if  the  gentleman  from 
Missouri  has  any  authority  in  these  premises, 
I  hope  he  will  exercise  it.  I  ask  him  to  pub- 
lish a  hand-book  for  emigrants,  telling  us  how 
we  may  go  into  a  Territory  ;  whether  we 
may  ride  or  must  go  on  foot ;  whether  we  may 
take  our  wives  and  children  with  us,  or  must 
leave  them  at  home ;  whether  we  may  take 
some  of  our  neighbors  with  us,  with  their  ag- 
ricultural implements  and  steam  engines,  or 
whether  we  must  go  into  the  Territories  with- 
out any  neighbors  whatever ;  whether  we 
may  get  horses  or  oxen  from  the  free  States, 
or  whether  we  must  content  ourselves  to  take 
mules  from  the  State  of  Missouri,  daugh- 
ter.] 

Now,  sir,  let  us  have  not  only  the  book, 
but  the  reasons  for  it.  Let  us  know  how  far 
we  may  go,  according  to  the  law,  in  this  mat- 
ter of  emigration.  I  recommend  the  gentle- 
man from  Missouri  to  take  some  lessons  from 
the  gentleman  from  Mississippi,  (Mr.  Quit- 
man),  on  the  rights  of  emigration.  I  think 
he  can  get  broade^  views  upon  this  subject, 
if  lie  will  consult  that  gentleman,  and  I  think 
he  will  allow  northern  men  to  go  to  the  places 
which  they  have  a  right  to  go  to  by  the  law  of 
this  land,  in  such  society,  if  it  be  law-abiding, 
as  they  may  choose  to  select  "for  themselves. 

I  have  said  that  the  great  general  law  of 


emigration  is,  that  the  emigrants  shall  follow 
the  parallels  of  latitude  in  this  country. 
There  are  some  exceptions  to  this.  The  gold 
in  California  led  our  emigrants  from  the  ex- 
treme North  across  many  parallels  of  latitude. 
That  was  a  sufficient  disturbing  cause.  The 
existence  of  Slavery  in  the  slave  States  of 
this  country  has  driven  thirty-five  out  of 
every  hundred  emigrants  across  northern 
parallels  to  the  free  States  of  the  Union. 
That  was  another  great  and  powerful  cause. 
But  there  is  another  cause  sufficient  to  carry 
emigration  southward  over  parallels  of  lati- 
tude. That  is,  the  argument  of  cheap  lands, 
with  the  additional  advantage  of  organized 
emigration.  The  objections  that  have  here- 
tofore existed  among  Northern  men  to  set- 
tling in  Southern  States  are,  by  this  mode  of 
emigrating,  entirely  obviated.  The  North- 
ern man,  with  his  family  of  children,  would 
not  heretofore  go  into  a  Southern  State,  in 
the  absence  of  schools  and  churches.  But 
when  combined  Avith  one  or  two  hundred,  or 
one  or  two  thousand,  of  his  friends  and  neigh- 
bors, he  goes  into  a  slave  State,  he  carries 
with  him  schools  and  churches,  and  the  me- 
chanic arts,  all  these  difficulties  are  obviated  ; 
and,  besides,  he  has  the  inducement  of  going 
where  the  land  can  be  bought  at  slave  State 
prices,  in  the  expectation  of  finding  it  come 
up  probably  in  a  few  years  to  free-State 
prices,  which  are  five  or  six  times  greater 
than  slave-State  prices.  Here  is  the  great 
inducement  of  increasing  wealth.  Let  a  col- 
ony start  from  Massachusetts,  and  settle  on 
almost  any  land  in  the  State  of  Virginia — in 
Greenville,  Southampton,  Dinwiddie,  or  Ac- 
comae,  where  the  lands  do  not  average  so 
high  as  three  dollars  an  acre,  by  the  census 
of  1 850  —  and  the  very  day  they  settle 
there,  the  value  of  the  land  is  more  than 
doubled.  There  is  better  land  for  sale  to- 
day in  Tennessee  and  North  Carolina,  for 
fifty  cents  per  acre,  than  can  be  bought  for 
ten  times  that  sum  in  any  free  State. 

How  can  such  an  appeal  to  the  imigrating 
population  of  the  North,  in  favor  of  organ- 
ized  emigration   to   the   slave  States,  be  re- 
sisted ?     I  know  of  no  means  of  resisting  it. 
Certainly  yon  can  have  no  reason   for  resist- 
ing it,  but  every  reason  to  encourage  it.    We 
j  do  not  come  as  your  enemies;  we    come   as 
;  your   friends.     We   do  not  come   to  violate 
your  laws,  but  to  improve  our  own  condition. 
This  movement  southward  is  destined  to  con- 


tiniic  and  to  increase.  Sir,  if  Slavery  were  Union  — in  fact,  if  there  is  any  weak  spot  in 
as  sacred  as  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  and  the  Union,  I  think  it  would  be  a  good  thing 
if  it  were  defended  by  angels,  I  doubt  ;  to  patch  it  over  with  an  additional  layer  of 
whether  it  could  withstand  the  progress  of  •  population.  [Applause. J  There  never  would 
this  age  and  the  money-making  tendencies  !  be  any  disunion,  if  we  could  only  attend  to 
of  the  Yankee.  But  it  is  not  as  sacred  as  I  it,  and  see  where  the  weak  places  are.  and 
the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  and  nobody  be-  i  mend  them  in  time. 

lieves  that  it  is  defended  by  angels.  But  there  is  another  exception  to  the  rule 

But,  sir,  there  begins  to  be  an  enligatened  j  I  have  laid  down.  Central  America  will 
idea  in  these  border  slave  States  upon  this  !  prove  abundantly  sufficient  to  carry  emigra- 
subject.  A  year  ago,  when  I  proposed  to  |  tion  southward,  even  across  many  parallels 
plant  a  few  colonies  in  Virginia,  several  jour-  ;  of  latitude.  She  offers  the  grand  induce- 
nals  in  the  Old  Dominion  threatened  me  j  ments  of  commerce,  of  a  climate  unsurpass- 
with  hemp  and  grape-vine  if  I  should  ever  j  cd  in  salubrity  (in  the  central  and  Pacific 


set  foot  in  that  Territory.  Well,  I  thought  I 
would  make  the  experiment.  I  went  into 
western  Virginia  and  into  eastern  Kentucky. 
I  addressed  numerous  audiences  in  both  of 
those  States,  and  everywhere  where  I  asked 
the  people  if  they  had  any  objection  to  their 

land  bein£  worth  four  or  five  times  what  it 

• 
was,  they  said  "  No."     [Laughter.]     I  asked 


portions)  of  a  fertile  soil,  which  yields  three 
crops  a  year,  and,  more  than  all,  lands  so 
cheap  that  every  man  may  buy.  We  have 
already  begun  to  move,  and  what  to  some 
men  seemed  to  be  the  unbilical  cord  of  an 
embryo  Southern  Empire,  is  likely,  by  these 
means,  to  be  cut  off,  if  it  is  not  cut  off  al- 
ready. [Laughter.]  Everybody  knows  the 


them  if  they  had   any  objection  to  the  man-  \  physiological  consequences. 

ufacture  of  ploughs  and    wagons   in  Wayne        Well,  sir,  I  wish  now  to  say  that  there  is  a 

county.     There  never  had  been  a  manufac-  I  higher  power  than  man's  in  relation  to  this 


turing  establishment  between  the  Big  Sandy 
and  Guyandot.  Though  no  portion  of  this 
continent  is  better  situated  for  manufacturing 
purposes,  having  more  than  thirty  thousand 
miles  of  river  communication,  which  affords 
cheap  transportation  to  the  best  markets,  with 
a  healthy  climate  and  inexhaustible  supplies  of 
coal  and  iron  and  timber  of  the  best  quality. 
Yet  every  manufactured  article  was  import- 
ed into  this  Natural  Paradise  of  mechanics. 
There  was  not  a  newspaper  published  be- 
tween the  two  rivers.  I  asked  if  they  had 
any  objection  to  a  good,  substantial,  business 
newspaper  published  there,  and  to  have 
schools  and  churches  and  the  mechanic  arts 
established  in  that  county.  With  one  voice 


matter  of  Freedom  in  Kansas-.  It  seemed  at 
first  to  the  whole  North  that  the  project  of 
establishing  Slavery  there  would  exclude 
Freedom,  and  the  whole  North  was  intimi- 
dated by  it.  There  was  the  greatest  reluc- 
tance manifested  to  emigration  in  that  direc- 
tion from  the  North.  Everywhere  there  was 
fear ;  everywhere  despair. 

There  was  silence  deep  as  clcatn, 
While  wo  floated  on  our  path  ; 

And  the  boldest  held  his  hreath 
For  a  time." 

Six  months  of  persistent  effort  in  writing 
and  speaking  were  required  to  induce  the 
first  colony  of  only  thirty  men  to  go  to  Kansas. 


they  replied, "  None,  whatever."  "  We  wel- I  The  people  had  become  impressed  with  the 
come  you  to  our  county,  and  to  all  its  ad-  idea  that  Kansas  was  destined  to  be  a  slave 
vantages."  This  was  a  generous  and  manly  State ;  but  as  soon  as  the  first  colony  had 
reception,  worthy  of  the  history  of  the  Old  |  reached  that  Territory,  and  had  founded  the 
Dominion.  At  every  meeting  we  were  wel-  j  famous  city  of  Lawrence,  the  whole  train  of 
corned  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  pepple  ;]  Northern  emigration  was  turned  from  Nc- 
and  now  I  believe  that  there  are  at  least  braska  and  from  Minnesota  to  Kansas.  And 


twelve  newspapers  in  the  State  of  Virginia 
advocating  these  colonies  coming  into  the 
State.  The  sagacious  statesman  who  is  the 
Governor  of  the  Old  Dominion  gives  us  a 
general  and  most  cordial  welcome.  Well, 
the  prospect  is  very  good  and  inviting  ;  and 
if  there  is  any  danger  of  a  dissolution  of  the 


they  have  filled  Kansas  with  Free  State  men 
—  such  men  as  are  fitted  for  the  high  posi- 
tion they  occupy  ;  for  Kansas  is  the  geograph- 
ical centre  of  our  possessions.  Its  position 
in  itself  makes  it  the  arbiter  of  our  fate  in  all 
coming  time,  destined  to  give  law  to  all  be- 
tween the  Missouri  river  and  the  golden 


24 


gates  of  the  Pacific,  and  to  make  its  power 
felt  all  the  way  between  the  British  posses- 
sions and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Never  were 
more  noble  men  needed  for  a  more  noble 
work.  It  was  necessary  that  Plymouth  Rock 
should  repeat  itself  in  Kansas.  The  Puritan 
character  was  needed  there  ;  but  how  could 
it  be  had,  except  by  such  discipline  as  made 


New  England  education,  and  of  poverty  and 
adversity  were  not  enough.  The  discipline 
of  tyranny  was  requisite  for  their  perfection. 
This  discipline  has  been  of  use  in  all  ages  of 
the  Avorld.  David  was  not  fit  to  rule  over 
Israel  until  he  had  been  hunted  like  a  "  par- 
tridge in  the  mountains"  by  the  envious  and 
malignant  Saul.  Brutus  was  not  fitted  to 


the  Puritans  ;  for  if  it  was  necessary  that  they  !  expel   the  Tarquins   until  he  had   endured 
should  be  elevated  like  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  of  j  their  tyranny  for  years.      What   would  Mo- 


New  England,  it  was  also  necessary  that  they 
should  have  the  training  of  the  Pilgrim  Fath- 
ers. They  were  peculiar  in  their  early  history, 
and  peculiar  in  their  late  history.  They  had 
their  early  education  among  the  rocks  and 
mountains  of  New  England.  I  have  known 
of  great  men  in  times  past,  who  came  from 


ses  have  done,  but  for  Pharaoh  ?  Where 
would  have  been  the  Reformers  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  where  the  Puritans  in  the 
seventeenth,  and  the  Patriots  in  the  eigh- 
teenth, but  for  Leo  the  Tenth,  Charles  the 
First,  and  George  the  Third  ?  But  Charles 
the  First  lost  his  head,  and  George  the  Third 


the  forest,  who  came  from  hills  and  moun-  his  colonies,  for  less  tyranny  than  has  been 
tains ;  but  I  never  have  known  them  to  be  :  practised  upon  the  people  of  Kansas  by  the 
raised  on  Wilton  carpets.  These  men  re-  j  two  successors  of  Millard  Fillmore.  If  we 
ceived  their  early  training  among  the  rugged  thank  God  for  patriots,  we  should  also  thank 
hills  of  New  England,  where  they  waged  in-  j  Him  for  tyrants  ;  for  what  great  achievements 
cessant  war  on  ice  and  granite,  on  snow  and  l  have  patriots  ever  made,  without  the  stimu- 
gravelstones.  It  is  there  where  they  acquire  ;  lus  of  tyranny  ?  Without  vice,  virtue  it- 
enerjry  and  their  power.  And,  sir,  I  ]  self  must  be  insipid;  and  without  wicked  and 


mean  men,  there  could  be  no  heroes. 

The  brave  man  rejoices  in  the  opposition 
of  the  enemy   of  his  rights.      Wicked  and 


their   energy  and  their  power.     And,  sir,  I 

think  the  Yankee  race  has  at  least  an  octave 

more   compass   than   any    other    nation   on 

earth.     I  know  a  Yankee  doughface  is  half 

an    octave    meaner    that    any    other    man.  j  mean  men  are  the  stepping-stones  on  which 

[Laughter.]  j  the  good  and  great  ascend  to   heaven  and 

Sir,  some  of  the  best  of  this  Yankee  race   immortal  fame. 

went  to  Kansas.  They  were  stigmatized,  These  miscreants,  cursed  both  by  God  and 
six  months  before  they  arrived  there,  as '  man,  subserve  important  interests.  The  sa- 
thieves  and  paupers.  Well,  if  such  men  as  !  cred  volume  which  unfolds  to  us  the  life  and 
those  who  have  built  Lawrence,  and  Tope-  sufFerings  of  the  Saviour  of  men,  makes  re- 
ka,  and  Manhatten,  and  Ossawatomic,  and  \  cord  also  of  Pontius  Pilate  and  of  Judas  Is- 
Quindaro,  were  thieves  and  paupers,  what  do  '  cariot  as  necessary  agencies  in  that  great  re- 
you  think  we  respectable,  well-to-do  people,  demption. 

will  accomplish  in  the  Old  Dominion,  where  So  I  will  denounce  no  man  who  has  fought 
we  are  now  becoming  acquainted  with  some  against  Freedom  in  Kansas,  as  entirely  use- 
of  the  "  first  families  ?  "  These  Free  State  j  less  in  the  grand  result  But  what  a  team  to 
men  of  Kansas  have  been  reviled  by  their  in-  ,  draw  the  chariots  of  freedom  !  Atchison  and 
feriors  at  both  ends  of  Pennsylvania  avenue  j  Stringfellow  and  John  Calhoun,  with  the 
many  times  during  the  last  three  years.  The  j  two  successors  of  Millard  Fillmore  to  lift  at 
other  day,  in  the  other  end  of  this  Capitol,  ]  the  wheels, 
such  men  were  denominated  slaves.  Sir,  we 


are  slaves!     I, admit  it;  but  our  only  master 


In  the  autumn  of  1858,  Mr.  Thayer  was  a 
second  time  nominated  for   Congress.      He 


is  the  Great  Jehovah.  These  heroes  in  Kan- 
sas having  for  their  ancestors  the  Pilgrim  appeared  before  the  convention  that  nomin- 
Fathers,  "  sons  of  sires  who  baffled  crowned  ated  him,  and  addressed  them  on  his  position 
and  mitred  tyranny,"  disciplined  in  their  and  views.  The  result  was,  that  he  was  en- 


early  years'by  the  rugged  teachings  of  adver- 
sity, seem  to  have  been  well  prepared  for 
their  high  mission. 

But  the  discipline  of  worthy  example,  of 


dorscd  with  great  enthusiasm,  both  by  the 
convention  and  his  constituents.  He  was 
returned  to  Congress  by  an  overwhelming 
majority,  the  best  proof  of  the  esteem  in 


•which  his  services  and  character  were  held 
at  home. 

He  delivered  a  third  speech  in  Congress, 
on  the  llth  of  February,  1859,  on  the  admis- 
sion of  Oregon  ;  a  speech  that  made  a  great 
deal  of  talk  in  the  Republican  party,  espe- 
cially as,  by  the  aid  of  a  few  Republicans, 
Oregon  was  finally  admitted  as  a  State. 
With  the  promulgation  of  this  liberal  and 
statesmanlike  speech,  which  was  character- 
ized by  all  of  its  author's  usual  energy,  clear- 
ness, and  practical  force,  was  opened  upon 
him  an  opposition  by  a  portion  of  the  press 
of  his  own  party,  that  has  not  ceased  till  the 
present  time.  It  is  against  these  very  as- 
saults that  he  is  defending  himself  to-day. 
Oregon  was  admitted  by  the  votes  of  eleven 
Republicans  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
Eli  Thayer  leading  the  column. 

The  speech  is  as  follows : — 

Mu.  SPEAKKR  :  My  colleague  [Mr.  Dawcs] 
who  has  just  addressed  the  House  is  unable 
to  see  how  an  honest  Representative  of  the 
State  of  Massachusetts  can  vote  for  the  ad- 
mission of  Oregon.  Well,  in  the  exercise  of 
charity,  I  can  see  how  a  Massachusetts  Rep- 
resentative, both  honest  and  patriotic,  can 
vote  agaiiul  the  admission  of  Oregon.  lie 
can  do  it  by  not  comprehending  the  question, 
or  he  may  do  it  in  obedience  to  party  dicta- 
tion. I  will  now  show  my  colleague  how  an 
honest  Representative  can  vote  for  the  ad- 
mission, if  he  will  listen  to  my  argument  and 
the  reasons  which  I  shall  give  in  defence  of 
my  position. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  think  this  is  a  strange  ne- 
cessity that  compels  the  Northern  Represen- 
tatives upon  this  floor  to  give  the  reasons  for 
their  votes  for  the  admission  of  another  free 
State  into  this  Confederacy.  Sir,  I  shall  vote 
for  the  admission  of  the  State  of  Oregon 
without  hesitation,  without  reluctance,  and 
without  reserve.  So  far  as  my  vote  and  my 
voice  can  go,  I  would  extend  to  her  such  a 
welcome  as  becomes  her  history,  as  becomes 
her  promise  for  the  future,  and  such  as  be- 
comes our  own  high  renown  for  justice  and 
magnanimity  —  a  welcome  not  based  on  con- 
temptible political  calculation,  or  still  more 
contemptible  partisan  expediency ;  but  such 
a  welcome  as  sympathy  and  friendship  and 
patriotism  should  extend  to  another  new 
State ;  such,  sir,  as  becomes  the  birthday  of  a 
nation. 


This  people  comes  before  us  in  accordance 
with  the  forms  of  law,  and  upon  the  invita- 
tion of  this  House  ;  and  it  is  too  late  to  apply 
a  parly  test  upon  this  question.  On  the  19th 
of  May  last,  a  vote  was  taken  in  the  Senate 
upon  the  admission  of  Oregon,  and  eleven 
Republican  Senators  voted  for  her  admission, 
while  six  Republican  Senators  only  voted 
against  her  admission ;  and,  sir,  I  have  not 
heard  of  any  attempt,  on  the  part  of  the  six 
Senators  who  voted  for.  the  rejection  of  Ore- 
gon, to  read  out  of  the  Republican  party  the 
eleven  Senators  who  voted  for  her  admission ', 
and  if  that  attempt  is  now  to  be  made,  we 
will  see  whether  it  is  in  the  power  of  a  mi- 
nority of  the  people  to  read  a  majority  out  of 
the  party. 

But,  sir,  who  are  these  people  of  Oregon, 
who  come  here  now,  asking  admission  ?  They 
are  the  pilgrims  of  the  Pacific  coast.  If  they 
are  fanatics  upon  some  subjects,  we  can  refer 
to  the  pilgrims  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  who  also 
were  fanatics  upon  some  subjects.  But,  sir, 
if  the  pilgrims  of  the  Atlantic  coast  finally 
became  examples  to  the  world  in  all  that  ex- 
alts our  race,  may  we  not  hope  that  the  pil- 
grims of  the  Pacific  coast  may  yet  become 
worthy  of  our  esteem  ? 

Nearly  one-quarter  of  a  century  ago,  in 
my  boyhood,  I  studied  the  adventures  of  those 
men,  who  founded  upon  the  western  shore  of 
the  American  continent  what  are  now  the 
cities  of  Oregon  and  Astoria.  These  men, 
who  were  then  in  the  vigor  of  their  lives,  are 
now  old  men — gray-haired  and  trembling 
with  ago.  Their  work  of  life  is  nearly  com- 
pleted ;  and  this  day  they  are  sitting  by  their 
hearthstones,  waiting  to  know  what  is  to  be 
the  result  of  our  deliberation ;  waiting  to 
know  whether  the  proud  consummation  to 
which  they  have  aspired  for  the  last  twenty 
years  is  now  reached  ;  and  whether  Oregon, 
which,  in  toil  and  trial,  in  defiance  of  danger 
and  of  death,  and  with  persistence  and  en- 
durance such  as  belong  only  to  our  race,  they 
have  brought  to  her  present  proud  and  pros- 
perous condition,  is  now  to  be  placed  upon 
an  equality  with  the  original  States  of  this 
Confederacy. 

_  These  are  the  men  who  have  carried  our 
institutions  to  the  remotest  boundaries  of  our 
Republic.  These  are  the  veterans  of  the  art 
of  peace.  American  valor  with  conquering 
arms  has  carried  our  flag  by  Monterey  and 


26 


Chepultcpcc  until  it  was  planted  upon  the 
halls  of  the  Montezumas.  But  far  beyond 
those  halls  have  these  heroes  borne  the  vic- 
torious arts  of  peace.  In  the  Territory  of 
Oregon  they  have  established  our  free  insti- 
tutions. There,  sir,  strong  and  deep,  they 
have  laid  the  foundations  of  a  free  State,  and 
they  come  here,  like  the  wise  men  of  the 
East,  not  asking  gifts,  but  bringing  gifts  ;  in 
that  respect  unlike  our  military  men,  who  ex- 
pect and  receive  honors  and  rewards  for  their 
services.  What  do  they  bring  ?  Why,  sir, 
the  trophies  of  their  own  labor,  the  evidences 
of  their  own  worth.  They  present  before  us 
the  cities  and  towns  which  they  have  founded. 
They  present  schools,  churches,  and  work- 
shops. They  bring  all,  all  the  products  of 
their  labor,  and  place  them  upon  the  altar  of 
the  Union,  a  pledge  for  the  common  welfare 
and  the  common  defence.  And  what  are  we 
doing  here  ?  Why,  sir,  quibbling  about  things 
which  are  comparatively  unessential,  and 
which  pertain  exclusively  to  the  people  of 
Oregon,  and  not  to  us  or  our  duties  here ; 
quibbling  about  points  which,  if  New  York 
or  Massachusetts  were  in  the  place  of  Ore- 
gon, would  secure  some  votes  on  this  side  of 
the  House  against  their  admission.  Massa- 
chusetts, which  you  know,  sir,  I  never  defend 
anywhere,  even  Massachusetts  does  not  allow 
the  negro  to  be  enrolled  in  the  militia  of  the 
State.  These,  then,  are  the  men  who  come 
here  ;  and  what  if  they  have  some  ideas  and 
sentiments  with  which  we  do  not  agree — is 
that  a  reason  why  we  should  excommunicate 
them ;  that  we  should  have  nothing  hereafter 
to  do  with  them  ? 

What  law  of  reformation  is  this  ?  It  is  the 
pharisaical  law  of  distance,  distrust,  and  de- 
rision. It  is  not  the  Christian  law  of  contact, 
confidence,  and  communion.  The  Pharisees 
denounced  the  Founder  of  Christianity  as 
"  the  friend  of  publicans  and  sinners."  That 
class  would  repel  all  who  do  not  agree  with 
them  to  the  fullest  extent.  Shall  we  pursue 
a  similar  course  in  relation  to  the  people 
of  Oregon  V  Is  it  wise  to  do  so  ?  Is  it  ex- 
pedient to  rc'cct  their  aoDlication  on  such 
grounds  ? 

What  objections  do  Republicans  present  to 
this  application  V  They  say  there  is  not  suf- 
ficient population,  and  they  claim  that  it  is 
their  mission  to  see  that  the  Democratic  party 
shall  recover  its  consistency.  At  whose  ex- 
pense V  At  the  expense  of  the  consistency 


of  the  Republican  party.  I  submit  that  it  is 
better  for  the  Republican  party  to  preserve 
for  itself  the  consistency  which  it  possesses, 
rather  than  attempt  to  recover  for  the  Dem- 
ocrats the  consistency  which  they  have  lost. 

Then,  sir.  in  relation  to  this  qualification  of 
population,  what  is  the  position  of  the  Re- 
publican party,  and  what  has  it  been  ?  This 
party  by  its  Representatives,  voted  for  the 
admission  of  Kansas  under  the  Topeka  Con- 
stitution, with  less  than  one-half  of  the  pres- 
ent population  of  Oregon.  The  Republican 
party  in  the  House,  without  one  exception, 
so  far  as  I  know,  voted  for  the  enabling  act, 
inviting  Oregon  to  come  here,  with  a  Consti- 
tution, to  be  admitted  as  a  State.  I  have  no 
disposition,  and  there  is  no  need,  -to  inquire 
here  what  is  the  population  of  Oregon ;  for, 
as  a  Republican,  I  am  pledged  to  no  rule  on 
this  subject.  I  opposed,  as  did  my  colleague, 
and  my  friends  on  this  side  of  the  House,  the 
restriction  which  was  put  upon  the  Territory 
of  Kansas.  We  protested  against  it  then, 
and  protest  against  it  now.  We  have  no 
sympathy  whatever  with  that  restriction,  and 
are  ready,  at  any  time,  to  give  an  honest  vote 
for  its  repeal. 

Another  objection  is  urged  against  the 
clause  in  the  Constitution  of  Oregon  which 
excludes  negroes  and  mulattoes  from  that 
Territory ;  and,  in  addition,  provides  that 
they  shall  not  bring  any  suit  therein.  It  is 
said  that  this  is  in  contravention  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States.  This  I  do  not 
admit.  But  what  if  it  is?  The  Constitution 
presented  by  the  people  of  Oregon  is  not 
submitted  to  our  vote.  We  cannot  amend 
it ;  all  we  have  to  do  about  it  is  to  see  that  it 
is  republican  in  form.  If  it  is  unconstitution- 
al, it  is  not  in  the  power  of  Congress  to  im- 
part to  it  the  least  vitality,  and  it  will  fall  by 
its  own  weight.  But  gentlemen  argue  here, 
as  if  we  could  by  our  votes  give  life  and  pow- 
er to  an  instrument  in  violation  of  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States.  Sir,  this  argu- 
ment is  weak  and  futile.  Congress  itself  de- 
rives its  own  vitality  from  the  Constitution, 
and  how  can  it  impart  a  greater  vital  force 
than  it  has  received  ?  The  stream  cannot 
rise  above  its  source. 

But  should  the  Constitution  of  Oregon  be 
proved  unconstitutional  before  the  proper 
tribunal,  then,  sir,  will  it  follow  that  we  have 
violated  our  oaths,  by  admitting  Oregon  into 
the  Union  with  that  organic  law  ?  By  no 


means.  We  have  not  sworn  that  the  peo- 
ple of  Oregon  shall  support  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States.  We  have  sworn  to 
support  it  ourselves,  not  that  anybody  else 
shall  do  so. 

But,  sir,  this  provision  is  no  more  hostile  to 
the  United  States  Constitution  than  are  the 
laws  of  Indiana  and  Illinois  which  exclude 
free  negroes  and  mulattoes  from  their  boun- 
daries. Certainly  not.  It  is  no  more  to  ex- 
clude the  suit  of  the  man  than  to  exclude 
the  man  himself.  Is  the  negro  less  than  his 
suit  V  I  contend  that  he  is  greater  than  his 
suit.  The  greater  contains  the  less,  and  the 
statutes  of  Illinois  and  Indiana  are  as  uncon- 
stitutional as  is  the  provision  of  the  Oregon 
Constitution.  But  it  does  seem,  at  the  first 
view,  that  it  was  a  wanton  and  unprovoked 
outrage  upon  the  rights  of  these  men  who  are 
excluded  from  that  State.  I  think  there  is  a 
real  apology  for  the  action  of  the  States  of  Illi- 
nois and  Indiana.  They  are  in  close  proximity 
to  the  institution  of  Slavery.  They  are  un- 
der the  shadow  of  the  dying  tree  of  Slavery, 
and  its  decayed  limbs  are  constantly  threat- 
ening to  fall  upon  their  heads ;  and  I  cannot 
censure  them  for  taking  such  means  as  they 
see  fit  to  protect  themselves  from  such  immi- 
nent peril.  I  am  not  disposed  to  call  into 
question  the  right  or  constitutionality  of  their 
action. 

Is  there  no  apology,  then,  for  the  people  of 
Oregon  V  Have  they  committed  a  wanton 
and  unprovoked  outrage  upon  the  rights  of  ne- 
groes and  mulattoes,  in  excluding  them  from 
that  Territory  ?  I  say  that  there  w  an  apol- 
ogy, and  that  it  consists  in  this  :  they  believed 
that  they  were  obliged  to  choose  between  a 
free-State  Constitution  with  this  provision, 
and  a  slave-State  Constitution  without  it. 
There  were  three  parties  in  the  Territory 
at  the  time  this  Constitution  was  made  and 
adopted.  There  was  the  Free-State  party, 
which  was  composed  of  Free-State  Demo- 
crats and  Republicans.  There  was  the  Pro- 
Slavery  party,  in  favor  of  a  slave  State.  There 
was,  between  these  two,  a  very  considerable 
party,  supposed  to  hold  the  balance  of  pow- 
er, and  that  party  I  may  characterize  as  the 
anti-negro  party.  They  said  that  they  would 
sooner  vote  for  a  slave  State  that  for  a  free 
State  with  a  Constitution  admitting  free  ne- 
groes and  mulattoes.  They  preferred  to 
have  slaves  in  Oregon  rather  than  free  ne- 
groes; and  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  securing 


their  vote  for  a  free  State  that  the  Republi- 
cans and  Free-State  Democrats  inserted  and 
advocated  this  provision.  The  leading  Repub- 
licans of  that  Territory  advocated  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Constitution  containing  this  pro- 
vision. Mr.  Logan,  who  received  every  Re- 
publican vote  for  United  States  Senator, 
advocated,  on  the  stump,  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution  with  this  clause. 

What  was  the  vote  ?  Why,  sir,  this  clause 
of  the  Constitution  had  a  majority  of  seven 
thousand  five  hundred  and  fifty-nine  votes; 
while  the  Constitution  itself  had  a  majority  of 
only  four  thousand  votes.  The  Democratic 
majority  in  the  Territory,  as  shown  in  the 
election  of  a  Representative  to  this  House, 
was  only  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  thir- 
teen votes.  Then  it  is  proved,  by  the  official 
record,  that  the  Republican  party  combined 
with  the  Free  State  Democratic  party  to  sanc- 
tion and  ratify  this  provision  of  the  Constitution 
which  is  here  called  in  question.  There  is 
also  abundant  evidence,  outside  of  the  record, 
to  satisfy  any  one  that  such  is  the  fact.  This, 
then,  is  the  apology  for  the  action  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Oregon  on  this  question.  What  Re- 
publican, or  what  friend  of  free  States,  is 
justified,  under  these  circumstances,  in  voting 
to  exclude  the  people  of  Oregon  from  this 
Confederacy  on  account  of  this  provision, 
which  is  only  an  expedient,  and  not  a  thing 
for  practical  use  V  It  is  very  easy,  at  this 
distance,  to  censure  the  people  of  Oregon, 
and  to  pronounce  judgment  against  them  ;  but 
such  judgment  may  be  neither  wise  nor  just. 

"  Then  at  the  balance  let's  be  mute, 

We  never  can  adjust  it ; 
What's  clone  we  partly  may  compute, 
But  know  not  what's  resisted." 

But,  sir,  there  is  another  objection  urged 
from  certain  quarters,  with  great  pertinacity. 
I  mean  the  objection  to  the  suffrage  of  aliens. 
The  Constitution  of  Oregon,  in  respect  to 
alien  suffrage,  is  certainly  more  stringent  than 
the  law  of  some  of  the  States  of  the  Union, 
and  less  stringent  than  that  of  others.  It  is 
the  same  as  the  Territorial  law  has  been 
during  the  last  ten  years.  It  requires  a 
residence  of  twelve  months  in  the  United 
States,  and  of  six  months  in  Oregon.  It  re- 
quires that  the  sworn  declaration  of  an  inten- 
tion to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States 
shall  have  been  on  file  at  least  one  year. 
What  was  the  inducement  for  that  encourage- 
ment of  aliens  ?  The  wages  of  labor  are  now, 


28 


and  have  been,  in  Oregon,  double  -what  they 
are  on  the  Atlantic  coast ;  and  I  ask,  would 
it  be  expedient  or  wise  for  Oregon  to  drive 
away  from  her  borders  the  emigration  from 
Europe,  on  which  she  has  to  rely  for  develop- 
ing the  resources  of  the  country  ?  Certainly 
not.  Such  a  policy  would  have  been  disas- 
trous in  the  extreme  to  the  young  State.  It 
was  wise  and  prudent,  therefore,  for  Oregon 
to  invite  and  encourage  that  emigration  which 
she  so  much  needs,  to  develop  her  great  re- 
sources, and  to  secure  for  her  the  products  of 
her  natural  wealth. 

These,  sir,  are  among  the  plausible  and 
ostensible  objections  that  have  been  urged  on 
this  side  of  the  House  against  the  admission 
of  Oregon.  There  is  yet  another  argument ; 
that  Kansas  has  been  excluded  from  the 
Union  by  the  action  of  the  Democratic  party; 
and  that,  therefore,  Republicans  ought  to  ex- 
clude Oregon.  The  argument  amounts  to 
this:  that  we  should  abuse  Oregon  because 
the  Democratic  party  have  abused  Kansas- 
Now  I,  for  one,  am  quite  content  that  the 
record  of  the  Republicans,  in  respect  to  Ore- 
gon, should  be  better  than  the  record  of  the 
Democratic  party  in  respect  to  Kansas.  I 
am  quite  content  that  the  record  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic party,  in  respect  to  Kansas,  should  be 
just  what  it  is;  and  I  do  not  think  it  is 
possible  very  much  to  improve  the  Repub- 
lican record,  or  to  impair  the  Democratic 
record.  Are  we  to  sacrifice  our  own  politi- 
cal principles  and  advantages,  for  the  sake  of 
compelling  the  Democratic  party  to  consis- 
tency of  action  V  Are  we  bound,  as  a  party, 
to  sacrifice  our  own  consistency  in  doing  so  ? 
Certainly  not.  I  think  the  Republican  party 
has  another,  and,  to  my  mind,  a  less  difficult 
mission  to  perform ;  and  that  is,  to  preserve 
its  own  consistency. 

These  are  some  of  the  palpable  objections 
that  have  been  urged  on  this  floor.  I  come 
now  to  some  for  which  I  thank  the  gentleman 
from  Indiana  [Mr.  Hughes].  He  has  pre- 
sented to  tlie  House  some  secret  objections 
which  the  Republicans  are  said  to  have  to 
the  admission  of  Oregon.  The  first  is,  that 
the  Republicans  are  opposed  to  the  admis- 
sion of  Oregon,  because  it  is  a  Democratic 
State.  Now,  sir,  does  not  the  gentleman 
from  Indiana  understand  that  the  Republi- 
can party  is  not  so  devoid  of  sagacity  as  to 
fail  to  see  that  to  reject  a  young  State  for 
the  reason  that  it  is  Democratic  would  make 


it  Democratic  forever  ?  Docs  the  gentleman 
from  Indiana  find  any  thing  in  tht-  history 
of  the  Republican  party  which  justifies  such 
conviction  of  its  stupidity,  as  would  lead  him 
to  say  that  the  Republican  party,  as  a  party, 
is  opposed  to  the  admission  of  a  free  State  be- 
cause her  people  had  chosen  such  politics  as 
seem  to  them  best?  Does  he  not  see  that 
sagacious  Republicans,  finding  that  the  Re- 
publican party  in  Oregon  is  now  in  a  minor- 
ity of  only  a  few  hundred  votes,  understand 
that  if  Oregon  be  admitted  by  their  action, 
and  were  thus  set  free  from  the  influence  of 
Executive  patronage,  she  would  very  soon 
become  a  Republican  State  ? 

But  further  than  that:  the  gentleman 
brings  up  another  secret  reason  why  the  Re- 
publicans would  oppose  the  admission  of  Or- 
egon. That  secret  reason  is,  that,  in  case  of 
the  failure  of  the  people  to  elect  a  President, 
and  in  case  of  that  election  coming  to  this 
House,  there  will  be  a  vote  from  Oregon 
against  the  Republican  candidate,  which 
may  procure  his  defeat.  Now,  does  not  the 
gentleman  from  Indiana  understand  that  any 
such  position  of  the  Republican  party  would 
secure  its  defeat  ?  that  if  it  were  stupid  enough 
to  take  a  position  against  the  admission  of 
free  States,  because  their  Constitutions  were 
not  universally  approved,  it  would  require 
more  than  the  vote  of  one  State,  either  in 
Congress  or  out  of  Congress,  to  help  or  harm 
the  prospects  of  the  party  ?  I  thank  the  gen- 
tleman from  Indiana  for  the  secret  reasons 
which  he  has  given,  which  I  have  thus  far 
been  enabled  to  prove  too  absurd  and  impol- 
itic to  influence  the  action  of  the  Republican 
party. 

There  arc  certain  principles  which,  in  my 
opinion,  should  govern  the  House  on  a  question 
of  the  admission  of  a  State.  First,  the  Con- 
stitution must  be  republican  in  form.  Second, 
there  must  be  sufficient  population ;  what 
number  may  be  sufficient,  must  be  left  to  the 
discretion  of  Congres.  Third,  the  proposed 
admission  must  be  shown  to  be  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  contracting  parties ;  to  be  best  for  , 
the  State  applying,  to  be  best  for  the  Con- 
federacy. Let  us  look  at  these  principles, 
and  see  how  they  should  affect  the  vote  on 
the  admission  of  Oregon.  First,  then,  is  the 
Constitution  presented  by  Oregon  republican 
in  form  ? 

I  will  here  send  to  the  Clerk's  desk  a 
quotation  from  an  authority  which  is  justly 


and  generally  respected  by  Republicans  — 
an  extract  from  a  speech  of  Senator  Scward, 
made  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
last  May,  upon  this  very  question. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows  : 

"  I  think  there  is  nobody  who  doubts  that 
the  people  of  Oregon  are  to-day  ready,  de- 
sirous, willing,  to  come  in.  They  have  made 
a  Constitution  which  is  acceptable  to  them- 
selves, and  a  Constitution  which,  however 
it'  may  be  criticised  here,  after  all,  complies 
substantially  with  every  requirement  which 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  or  any 
considerable  portion  of  either  House  of  Con- 


Maine  (Mr.  Washburn)  the  other  day  deemed 
it  expedient  to  call  the  pioneers  of  our  na- 
tional progress,  "interlopers,  runaways,  and 
outlaws."  I  affirm,  concerning  American  citi- 
zens in  any  Territory  of  the  United  States, 
and  in  any  new  State  of  this  Confederacy, 
that  they  are  above  the  average  of  the  popu- 
lation of  the  old  States,  in  all  that  makes  up 
manly  and  virtuous  character.  They  have 
my  sympathy ;  and  never  will  I  oppress  them 
by  my  vote  or  my  voice. 

But,  sir,  what  if  the  people  of  Oregon 
were  really  as  bad  as  the  most  unfavorable 
construction  of  their  Constitution,  and  the 


gress,  has  ever  insisted  on   in   regard  to  any    speech  of  my  colleague  (Mr.  Dawes)  would 

represent  them  to  be,  then  what  should  we 
gain  by  refusing  them  admission  into  the 
Union  ?  If  the  objectionable  features  in 
their  Constitution  are  their  true  sentiments, 


State. 

"  It  seems  to  me,  therefore,  to  be  trifling 
with  the  State  of  Oregon,  trifling  with  the 
people  of  that  community,  and  to  be  unnec- 
essary, and  calculated  to  produce  an  unfavor- 


and  are   placed   in   the  organic  law  for  use, 


able  impression  on  the  public  mind,  in  regard  J  and  not  for  expediency,  then  surely  the  evil 
to  the  consistency  of  the  policy  which  we  is  deeper  than  the  ink  and  parchment  of  their 
pursue  in  admitting  States  into  the  Union,  to  Constitution.  It  is  in  the  hearts  of  the  peo- 
delay  or  deny  this  application.  For  one,  sir.  pie  and  will  not  be  eradicated  by  any  harsh 


I  think  that  the  sooner  a  Territory  emerges 
from  its  provincial  condition,  the  better ;  the 
sooner  the  people  are  left  to  manage  their 
own  affairs,  and  are  admitted  to  participa- 
tion in  the  responsibilities  of  the  Government, 


treatment  that  gentlemen  on  this  floor  may 
recommend.  I  doubt  whether  you  will  ef- 
fect the  salvation  of  the  people  of  Oregon 
by  heaping  curses  on  their  heads,  or  by  ex- 
cluding them  for  unworthiness.  You  may 


the  stronger  and  the  more  vigorous  the  '  send  them  away  from  the  door  of  the  Capi- 
States  which  those  people  form  will  be.  I  !  tol,  but  they  will  go  thinking  less  of  you, 
trust,  therefore,  that  the  question  will  be  j  and  less  subject  thereafter  to  your  influence. 


taken,  and  that  the  State  may  be   admitted 
without  further  delay." 

Mr.  Thayer.  So  much,  then,  in  relation 
to  the  first  principle  which  should  govern  our 
action  in  the  admission  of  States.  And  what, 
sir,  concerning  the  other  ?  How  will  it  affect 
this  present  Confederacy  of  States,  to  admit 
the  Territory  of  Oregon  ?  Why,  gentlemen 
talk  here  as  if  we  were  discussing  the  question 
of  admitting  some  new  and  unheard-of  race 
of  monsters  and  cannibals  into  the  Union  ! 
Sir,  is  not  this  injustice  to  the  people  of  Or- 
egon ?  "Will  they  contaminate  this  Confed- 


They  may  come  again  with  a  hypocritical 
Constitution,  trusting  to  effect  by  statute  law 
what  yon  would  not  allow  in  organic  law. 
They  may  not  come  at  all,  or  they  may  come 
with  a  Constitution  tolerating  Slavery.  Dis- 
couraged and  repulsed  by  Northern  votes  — 
finding  no  sympathy  where  they  had  most 
right  to  expect  it,  they  might  not  be  able 
longer  to  resist  the  Slave-State  party  in  the 
Territory,  acting  under  the  Dred  Scott  de- 
cision. Is  it  not  right,  therefore,  for  the 
lovers  of  Freedom  to  advocate  the  immediate 
transition  of  Oregon  from  the  condition  of  a 


cracy  ?  Just  as  much  as  their  mountain  Territory  in  which  Slavery  is  lawful,  to  the 
streams  will  contaminate  the  Pacific  ocean,  condition  of  a  State  in  which  it  is  forbidden? 
I  tell  you,  they  may  be  inferior  to  us  in  edu-  Which  do  we  choose,  a  slave  Tcrrritory  or  a 
cation,  in  refinement,  and  in  etiquette  ;  they  •  FREK  STATK  ? 

may  not  appear  as  well  in  the  drawing-room  j  But,  sir,  there  is  another  argument  which 
as  some  of  our  Eastern  exquisites ;  but  in  !  may  influence  some  members  who  doubt  the 
the  sturdy  virtues  of  honesty,  of  fidelity,  of  security  of  this  Union  of  States.  By  this  act 
industry,  and  of  endurance,  they  are  above  j  which  I  now  advocate,  we  shall  bind  firmly 
the  average  of  the  people  of  this  Confeder-  j  to  the  old  States,  by  indissoluble  bonds,  the 
ftcy.  I  regret  that  the  gentleman  from '  remotest  portions  of  our  possessions.  This 


30 

will  make  secure  all  intermediate  parts  of  the   the  duties  of  this  government  to  a  position 
national  domain.  where  they  will  be,  as  was  well  said  last  ses- 

This,  then,  may  be  grateful  assurance  to  sion  by  the  gentleman  from  Alabama  [Mr. 
such  as  want  assurance  about  the  permanency  Curry],  "  few  and  simple,"  as  they  should  be. 
of  the  Union.  For  myself,  I  have  not  much  j  It  is  in  accordance  with  this  view  that  I 
respect  for  any  such  assurance,-  but  I  do  have  shall  oppose  any  thing  that  leads  to  compli- 
an  utter  contempt  for  any  doubts  on  the  sub-  cations — that  shall  multiply  or  extend  our 
ject.  This  Union,  Mr.  Speaker,  is  not  a  provincial  dependencies, 
thing  to  be  argued  for  and  advocated  ;  it  is  j  I  shall  oppose  all  protectorates  over  foreign 
a  tiling  settled,  fixed,  and  determined.  Far  ;  countries ;  all  military  occupations  and  mili- 
transcending  in  importance  the  temporary  tary  usurpations ;  all  annexation  of  territory, 
convenience  of  any  one  State  or  of  all  the  except  as  independent  sovereignties  acquired 
States,  it  is  in  our  hands,  a  trust,  not  for  our  and  at  the  same  time  admitted  into  the  Union 
posterity  only,  but  for  the  world.  We  are  by  treaty  stipulations  as  States  equal  to  any 
bound  to  deliver  it  unimpaired  to  succeeding  j  in  this  Confederacy.  It  will  never  do  for  us 
generations,  and  we  WILL  so  deliver  it.  THE  to  imitate  the  despotisms  of  Europe.  We 
Uxiox  is  AXD  WILL  BK.  must  adhere  to  the  original,  simple  plan  of 

If,  then,  there  is  a  great  gain  to  the  Con-  j  this  Confederacy,  which  did  not  contemplate 
federacy,  is  it  not  also  better  for  the  people    provincial  dependencies,  or  armies  and  na- 
of  Oregon  themselves  that  she  should  be  ad- j  vies,«necessary  for  their  acquisition  and  con- 
mitted  into  the  Union  ?     Is  it  better  that  they    trol. 
should  remain  under  the  tuition  of  this  Fed-        So  far  as  we  deviate  from  the  simplicity 


eral  Government  —  a  non-resident  Govern- 
ment—  or  that  they  should  govern  them- 
selves V  Why,  sir,  to  contend  against  the 
advantages  of  self-government  would  seem  to 
me  unsuited  to  this  place,  and  not  to  comport 


of  the  plan  of  the  fathers,  just  so  far  shall  we 
advance  towards  danger,  disaster,  and  de- 
struction. 

But,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  did  wish  to  review 
the  action  of  the  minoritv  of  the  Committee 


well  with  the  history  of  this  Republic;  for  i  on  Territories  in  relation  to  this  question,  but 
the  origin  of  this  nation  was  a  protest  against  (  my  time  has  nearly  expired,  and  I  can  only 


refer  to  it. 

They  have  reported  the  bill  of  the  major- 


a  non-resident  Government,  and  our  history 

should  be.     For  one,  sir,  I  have  no  faith  in 

that   kind    of    government   being    exercised  |  ity  with  an  additional  provision  repealing  the 

over  Anglo-Saxons  anywhere,  and  least  of  j  clause  of  the  English  bill  restricting  the  right 

all  have  I  faith  in  that  kind  of  government '  of  Kansas  to  come  into  the  Union  with  a  less 

being  exercised  by  Republics  anywhere  ;  and,    population  than  ninety-three  thousand.  Xow, 

therefore,  to  relieve  a  portion  of  our  people   sir,  I  had  supposed  that  the  gentlemen  of  the 


from  what  I  consider  a  curse — the  curse  of  a 
non-resident  domination  —  I  will  cheerfully 
vote  for  the  admission  of  Oregon. 

Sir,  this  non-resident  control  is  a  relic,  as 
it  was  an  invention,  of  ancient  tyranny.  It 
has  come  down  from  the  history  of  the  old 
Romans,  who  had  pro-consuls  in  Judea,  in 
Spain,  in  Gaul,  in  Germany,  and  in  Britain  ; 


minority  of  the  committee  would  have  voted 
for  the  bill  which  they  have  reported,  but 
speeches  have  been  made  by  two  of  the  gen- 
tlemen who  signed  that  report  [Mr.  Grow 
and  Mr.  Granger],  in  which  they  went  off 
on  an  altogether  different  line  of  reasoning. 
They  have  talked  about  the  unconstitution- 
ality  of  the  Constitution  of  Oregon,  and 


and  England  has  copied  their  example,  and  ;  about  its  invasions  of  human  rights,  without 
sent  Governors  and  Governor-Generals  to  |  confining  themselves  at  all  to  the  argument 
India,  and  to  this  continent  also.  But  we  of  their  minority  report.  They  argue  that 
protested  successfully  against  that  kind  of  i  whoever  may  vote  for  the  admission  of  the 
government  by  the  war  of  the  Revolution ;  •  State,  will  properly  be  held  responsible  for 
and  I  look  forward  to  the  time  when  every  all  these  outrages.  And  now  I  wish  to  know 
portion  of  our  national  domain  shall  be  free  ;  for  what  consideration  the  signers  of  that  re- 
irom  it;  when  we  shall  have  no  provincial' port  are  •willing  to  ignore  all  these  revered 
dependencies  whatever ;  when  we  shall  have  ;  human  rights,  invaded  and  ruined  by  the 
nothing  but  a  combination  of  equal  and  sov-j  Constitution  of  Oregon  V  I  have  their  reply 
ereign  republics.  Then,  sir,  we  may  bring  j  in  this  report.  On  one  condition  they  are 


31 


•willing  to  sanction  all  these  outrages;  and 
that  condition  is,  that  a  certain  act  concern- 
ing Kansas  shall  be  repealed.  If  the  report 
is  in  good  faith  there  can  be  no  other  con- 
clusion. 


On  the  24th  of  the  same  month,  he  took 
occasion  once  more  to  assert  his  views  in  re- 
lation to  the  best  mode  of  winning  the  Terri-  ! 
tories  over  to  Freedom,  which  is  simply  by  j 
giving  to  Free  Labor  fair  play  in  the  struggle  | 
with   Slave  Labor.     Hence  the  speech  was 
itself  entitled  "  Fair  Play."     It  is  one  of  the  j 
best  of  all  his  remarkable   Congressional  ef- 
forts.    It  is  particularly  happy  as  illustrating 
his  practical  views  on  the  whole  subject  under 
discussion,  —  views  that  no  abstract  theoriz- 
ing can  hope  to  reach  or  overthrow.     The 
reader  will  find,  in  its  perusal,  that  he  has 
come  to  know  and  admire  the  author  of  it 
more  than  ever.  All  the  cavils  of  party  press- 
es at  either  its  positions  or  arguments  appear 
narrow  and  of  no  consequence,  for  they  seem 
to  be  striving  for  mere  partizan  success,  while 
lie  seems  to  be  struggling  only  for  permanent 
benefit  and  real  truth. 

Here  is  the  speech :  — 

MR.  CHAIRMAN  :  The  gentleman  rrom 
Maine  [Mr.  Washburn],  in  his  speech  the 
other  day,  recommended  to  the  Republican 
party  to  "  note  the  policy  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  to  learn  wisdom  from  their  oppo- 
nents." Advised  by  such  high  authority,  and 
scorning  no  source  of  knowledge,  however 
humble,  I  have  for  a  few  days  made  a  study 
of  the  discipline  and  policy  of  the  Democratic 
party ;  and  what  do  I  find  ?  A  wonderful  toler- 
ation of  hostile  and  conflicting  principles  and 
measures,  prompted  by  adverse  and  contend- 
ing interests.  I  believe  that  the  plain  of 
Shinar  never  witnessed  about  the  base  of  the 
tower  of  Babel  any  such  confusion  of  lan- 
guages as  we  see  here  of  principles  and  meas- 
ures in  the  Democratic  party.  How  do  they 
stand  upon  the  tariff  ?  Some  are  for  specific 
duties,  some  for  ad  valorem  duties,  and  some 
for  no  duties  at  all.  How  concerning  the 
Dred  Scott  decision,  and  the  protection  of 
slavery  in  the  Territories  ?  Some  are  for  the 
non-intervention  of  the  federal  government 
with  slavery  in  the  Territories,  and  some  are 
for  the  direct  establishment  of  slavery  in  the 
Territories  by  the  federal  power,  as  the  jour- 
nal of  this  House  will  show,  by  the  notice 


which  has  been  given  of  a  bill  to  be  intro- 
duced for  the  protection  of  slavery  in  the 
Territories,  and  as  the  debate  in  the  Senate 
yesterday  will  show  ;  while  others  are  in  favor 
of  making  all  such  schemes  of  protection  null 
and  void  by  the  unfriendly  legislation,  or  by  the 
masterly  inactivity  of  the  settlers.  And  how 
about  the  acquisition  of  territory  ?  Some  are 
for  acquiring  it  by  fillibustering  and  the  force 
of  private  crusades ;  some  by  the  more  digni- 
fied method  of  protectorates,  military  occupa-  4 
tions,  and  military  usurpation ;  some  by  pur-  ' 
chase,  and  some  by  war.  And  how  is  it  about 
the  slave  trade  ?  Some  are  for  reviving  it, 
and  some  are  utterly  hostile  to  its  revival. 
And  so  in  reference  to  the  Pacific  Railroad, 
and  every  other  measure  of  public  policy.  I 
have  said  enough  to  show  that  there  is  a  tol- 
eration in  that  party  of  the  widest  diversity 
of  principles,  opinions,  and  measures. 

!Nbw,  sir,  if  I  am  to  learn  a  lesson  from  this 
party,  I  think  I  may  learn  this  lesson,  —  that 
while  I  would  not  tolerate  any  such  latitude 
of  opinion  as  would  breed  confusion  in  the 
Republican  party,  I  would  tolerate  such  lib- 
erality of  sentiment  as  shall  not  compel  men 
who  agree  in  practice  to  quarrel  about  mat- 
ters of  faith.  I  do  not  advocate  that  prescrip- 
tive policy  which  would  drive  away  from  me 
men  who  do  not  agree  with  me  about  the  im- 
portance or  necessity  or  expediency  of  legis- 
lating against  slavery,  or  for  freedom  in  the 
Territories.  While  I  will  not  denounce  the 
gentleman  from  Maine,  for  his  favorite  meas- 
ure, I  shall  expect  the  same  toleration  for  my 
own.  lie  may  bow  down  in  his  chamber 
three  times  a  day  before  the  Wilmot  proviso, 
with  his  windows  open  toward  Jerusalem,  and 
I  will  not  trouble  him  for  that.  But  when  he 
attempts  to  fit  other  Republicans  to  his  bed- 
stead, we  shall  very  likely  protest  against  any 
such  act,  especially  if  it  involves  the  necessity 
of  cutting  us  off  at  both  ends.  I  maintain  my 
right  to  think  well  of  Wilmot  proviso  men, 
and  to  think  well  if  I  choose  of  those  who  are 
not  Wilmot  proviso  men.  The  Wilmot  pro- 
viso is  only  a  measure,  not  a  principle. 

Xow,  sir,  there  are  some  classes  of  men 
who  profess  to  belong  to  the  Republican  party, 
to  whom  I  do  not  propose  to  address  any  re- 
marks upon  this  occasion,  because  I  believe 
that,  politically,  they  will  not  be  made  better  j 
and  that  they  cannot  be  made  worse. 

I  shall  first  speak  of  a  class  which  I  will 
denominate  THE  RIGIDLY  IUGHTKOUS,  who 


claim  that  it  is  not  enough  that  a  State  shall 
exclude  salvery  from  its  limits,  but  that  this 
act  must  proceed  from  most  exemplary  and 
Christian  motives.  The  State  must  exclude 
slaver}-  because  it  is  a  sin.  It  might  as 
•well  be  a  slave  State  as  a  free  State  if  it 
is  not  made  free  upon  the  purest  Chris- 
tian principles.  These  pinks  of  piety  depre-  ' 
cate  any  appeal  to  national  or  personal  in-  : 
terest ;  they  deprecate  any  argument  which  ; 
is  based  upon  economical  or  pecuniary  con- 
sideration as  an  attempt,  to  contaminate  the 
purity  of  exalted  anti-slavery  sentiment,  and 
to  soil  by  earthly  contact  the  pure  and 
spotless  anti-slavery  standard  of  the  Xorth. 
With  this  class  I  can  never  agree,  for  I  would 
rather  see  a  State  free  for  the  worst  reasons, 
than  see  it  slave  for  the  best  reasons. 

Another  class  consists  of  the  PRK-KMI- 
XKXTLY  CONSISTKXT.  Some  years  ago  they 
pointed  their  guns  at  the  enemy ;  and  they 
intend  to  fire  where  they  first  aimed,  whether 
the  enemy  be  there  or  not.  [Laughter.] 
To-day  you  find  them  pouring  their  hot  shot 
into  the  cold  ashes  of  the  enemy's  extinct 
camp-fires.  [Laughter.]  And  they  say,  "  is 
it  any  reason  because  the  enemy  has  changed 
his  position,  because  he  is  unstable  and  incon- 
sistent, that  we  should  te  wavering  and  in- 
consistent also  V '  [Laughter.]  With  this 
class  I  do  not  agree.  I  am  for  pointing  our 
guns  where  the  enemy  now  is  —  for  pointing 
them  where  the  enemy  stands  at  the  instant 
when  we  apply  the  torch. 

There  is  another  class,  sir,  composed  of  the 
political  Cassandras  of  the  Republican  party, 
who  are  always  prophesying,  in  the  middle 
of  one  great  disaster,  that  another  still  greater 
is  about  to  come — who  are  continually  say- 
ing that  slavery  has  always  had  its  own  way, 
and  always  will  have  it  —  that  slavery,  under 
the  Dred  Scott  decision,  will  yet  be  estab- 
lished in  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire 
—  that  secret  intrigues  are  going  on  for  estab- 
lishing it  in  Canada,  as  well  as  for  putting 
the  White  Mountains  and  Cape  Cod  under 
the  lash.  [Laughter.]  I  have  an  account 
to  settle  with  these  men.  I  have  met  them, 
and  found  them  a  great  impediment  to  the 
progress  of  freedom  in  this  country.  In  the 
contest  for  free  men  and  free  labor  in  Kan- 
sas, I  affirm  here  that  they  were  a  greater 
obstacle  to  our  progress  than  the  border  ruf- 
fians, the  cabinet  and  power  of  President 
Pierce,  or  the  bad  travelling  in  the  State  of 


Missouri ;  for  they  were  filling  the  country 
with  the  cry  that  Kansas  was  lost.  With 
quivering  lips  and  moist  eyes  they  went  about 
crying  that  all  was  lost.  The  effect  was  to 
send  hundreds  and  thousands  of  men,  who 
would  have  joined  our  good  colonists  in  Kan- 
sas, shivering  away  to  the  cold  regions  of 
Minnesota.  I  have  no  sympathy  with  these 
men.  Of  this  class  was  Uzza  in  the  days 
of  David,  who  thought  that  because  the 
oxen  stumbled,  the  ark  of  the  Lord  would 
surely  fall ;  and  he  stretched  out  his  trem- 
bling hand  in  support  of  Omnipotence.  Smit- 
ten by  the  Power  which  his  doubts  had  in- 
sulted, faithless  Uzza  died  upon  the  spot. 
Why  he  died  I  ask  no  commentary  to  tell 
me.  Why  any  such  are  left  is  not  so  clear. 
Without  faith,  either  in  the  power  of  God  or 
the  destiny  of  man,  they  libel  freedom  and 
slander  freemen.  They  have  no  joy  in  the 
present  and  no  hope  in  the  future.  They 
seem  predestined  to  disaster  and  defeat ;  and 
woe  to  the  party  or  project  in  which  they  as- 
sume authority  or  exercise  influence. 

To  a  man  of  this   class  the  present  life  is 
one  perpetual  nightmare ;  and  what  the  fu- 
ture will  be,  who  can  say  ?  Can  he  be  saved  V 
:  Can  a  man  be  saved  without  faith,  or  hope, 
or  works,  with  only  repentance  —  and  even 
that  consisting  not  in  sorrow  for  his  own  sins, 
but  for  other  people's  virtues  ?     [Laughter.] 
Why,  what  if  by  some  chance  he  were  once 
•  in  the    Holy  City  ?  —  he  would  be  no  more 
j  saved  than  he  was  before.     lie  never  would 
see  the  tree  of  life  or  the  river  of  life,  never 
would  have  a  harp  in  his  hand  —  but  a  spy- 
glass, and   skulking   about   the   battlements, 
and  peering  off  into  illimitable  space  [laugh- 
ter] ;  if  he  should  chance  to  see  Dred  Scott 
or   the    Supreme    Court,  even   though   they 
might  be  beyond  the  great  gulf,  he    would 
;  think  they  were  coming  to  establish  slavery 
on  the  golden  pavements  of  the  Xew  Jerusa- 
'  lem.     [Laughter.] 

Now,  sir,  I  do  not  address  myself  to  these 
!  men.  They  bear  the  same  relation  to  the 
Republican  party  that  Cape  Fear  and  Cape 
Lookout  do  to  this  continent.  They  serve 
only  to  keep  people  away  from  it.  [Much 
laughter.]  I  address  the  continent  of  the 
Republican  party,  and  not  these  insignificant 
though  conspicuous  capes  and  promontories. 
And,  in  doing  it,  I  shall  refer  to  first  principles. 

It  is  an   axiom  in  physics  that  one  body 
i  must   sustain   to  another,  one  of  three  rela- 


33 


tions.  It  must  be  cither  less,  equal,  or  greater ; 
and  it  is  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  growth 
that  if  one  organized  body  is  less  than  another, 
and,  by  natural  and  gradual  accretions,  shall 
at  some  time  become  greater,  it  must  first  be- 
come equal.  Now,  sir,  in  politics  it  is  also  an 
axiom  that  if  one  cause  is  inferior  to  another 
in  position  or  in  importance,  it  can  never  be- 
come superior  except  by  first  attaining  to  a 
position  of  equality.  Now,  sir,  freedom  and 
slavery  are  two  causes  in  our  politics,  and  it 
is  claimed  by  gentlemen  that  the  cause  of 
freedom  is  in  an  inferior  position  politically 
(and  this  I  assert  too),  and  has  been  so  for 
years.  The  question  then  is  how  it  shall  at- 
tain to  an  equal  position,  and,  perhaps,  here- 
after to  a  superior  position.  It  can  only  attain 
to  that  superior  position  in  the  legislation 
of  this  Government,  and  in  the  executive 
power  of  this  Government,  by  first  attaining 
to  a  position  of  equality.  And  it  is  this  policy 
of  striving  for  this  position  of  equality  that  I 
have  advocated  for  years  ;  and  I  am  rejoiced 
that  at  the  present  time  I  am  sustained  in 
this  argument  by  very  high  authority.  I 
find  that  one  of  the  distinguished  Senators 
from  the  State  of  New  York  [Mr.  Seward] 
made  a  speech  last  November,  in  which  he 
took  this  position.  Part  of  that  speech  was 
made  in  Rochester,  the  other  part  of  it  was 
made  a  few  days  later  in  Home. 

The  speech  altogether  contains  two  main 
propositions.  The  first  proposition  is  this : 
that  the  Democratic  party  ought  to  be  put 
out  of  power.  The  second  propositign  is  the 
method  by  which  this  can  be  accomplished. 
Under  the  first  head  the  speaker,  not  having 
much  to  prove,  and  therefore  being  free 
from  the  necessity  of  laborious  concentration 
(because  a  Northern  audience  was  willing  to 
assent  without  argument)  very  naturally  di- 
gressed from  the  strict  line  of  logic,  and  dis- 
coursed freely  upon  a  collateral  philosophical 
question.  He  entered  into  a  harmless  phil- 
osophical speculation  about  the  comparative 
vitality  of  free  labor,  and  of  slave  labor,  and 
I  think  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  free 
labor  has  the  greater  vitality.  This  I  con- 
sider a  very  harmless  speculation  ;  and  had  a 
similar  one  been  indulged  in,  as  it  has  often 
been,  by  a  Southern  statesman,  and  a  contra- 
ry conclusion  arrived  at,  no  Northern  man 
would  have  thought  of  taking  exception  to  it. 
lie  might  have  concluded,  as  Mr.  Fitzhugh 
has  done  in  his  Sociology,  as  Southern  ora- 
3 


tors  have  often  clone  on  the  stump,  and  as 
Southern  editors  have  often  done  in  their 
papers,  that  slave  labor  had  the  greater  vital- 
ity, and  would  hereafter  override  free  labor 
in  the  Northern  States.  Well,  sir,  so  much 
for  the  very  harmless  speculation  which  has 
been  very  much  misrepresented.  But  the 
sum  total  of  the  Senator's  argument  —  the 
conclusion,  which  was  .  for  immediate  and 
practical  use  —  was  what  may  be  considered 
a  sound  national  platform  for  the  party  op- 
posed to  the  Administration.  It  is  broad 
enough  for  all  the  elements  of  the  opposition 
to  combine  upon,  and  to  occupy  safely.  Now, 
sir,  what  is  that  platform  ?  What  are  the 
words  of  wisdom  which  give  promise  of  vic- 
tory ?  Here  they  are  : 

"  The  work  of  to-day  is  to  obtain  securities 
for  fair  play  in  this  great  contest.  Fair  play 
was  all  that  was  left  to  James  Buchanan  and 
his  administration  to  afford  us.  lie  promised 
us  that  miserable  right  —  the  remnant  of  all 
other  valuable  rights.  Even  that  promise 
was  broken,  and  that  right  has  been  treach- 
erously wrested  from  us  the  first  year  of  the 
administration  of  James  Buchanan.  The 
President,  without  rebuke  from  Congress,  and 
with  the  acquiescence  of  the  Senate,  suc- 
cessively removed  Gov.  Walker  and  Gov. 
Stanton,  for  yielding  to  the  people  of  Kansas 
free,  fair,  and  impartial  elections.  When 
the  people  of  the  State  of  Kansas  by  such 
elections  repudiated  the  slavery  Lecompton 
constitution,  and  avowed  their  unalterable 
determination  to  remain  a  community  of  free 
men,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  re- 
manded them  to  remain  indefinitely  a  slave- 
holding  Territory.  Elections  for  slavery  are 
held  valid  and  lawful  ;  elections  for  freedom, 
are  deemed  invalid,  idle,  and  futile.  Have  L 
not  said  truly,  then,  that  our  first  conquest 
must  be  the  recovery  of  fairness  and  equality 
between  freedom  and  slavery  in  the  conduct 
of  the  administration,  and  of  legislation-,  at 
Washington." 

"  Fairness  and  equality  between  freedom- 
and  slavery  in  the  conduct  of  the  administra- 
tion and  in  the  legislation  at  Washington!"' 
What,  sir,  is  this  but  non-intervention  by  the 
federal  government,  either  for  freedom  or 
slavery  in  the  Territories  ?  What  is  this  but 
a  natio'nal  platform  upon  which  all  the  ele-- 
ments  of  opposition  to  the  present  admin- 
istration can  fairly  stand  ?  I  subscribe  to 
that  doctrine,  and  advocate  a  fair  play  par- 


34 

ty,  and  a  fair  play  President,  upon  a  fair  the  intervention  of  Congress  for  the  estab- 
play  platform;  I  am  for  fair  play  between  lishment  of  slavery  in  Kansas;  and,  sir,  I 
section  and  section,  between  State  and  think  they  had  a  tool  at  that  time  which  was 
State;  for  fair  play  for  our  foreign  poli-  '  well  adapted  to  the  uses  for  which  it  was  de- 
cy,  and  for  fair  play  for  our  domestic  poli-  signed.  It  was  supple,  pliant,  and  fitted  for 
cy ;  for  fair  play  with  England,  France  and  '  many  uses.  Hudibras  had  such  an  instru- 
Spain  ;  fair  play  with  China  and  Africa  ;  for  •  rnent  —  his  dagger, 
the  acquisition  of  Cuba,  Central  America,  and  .,  ,Twould  sorapc  trenches  or  ch;p  breadf 
ML-X'ICO,  by  fair  play,  and  by  that  only.  Here, 
then,  is  the  position  which  the  opposition  can 
fairly  assume,  and  the  platform  has  the  high- 
est Republican  authority.  Sensible  and  prac- 
tical men  will  harmoniously  endorse  it,  and 


be  proud  to  stand  upon  it  and  defend  it  in 
the  next  national  campaign. 

In  relation  to  slavery  in  the  Territories, 
and  the  connection  of  the  federal  government 
therewith,  there  are  three  political  positions, 
and  only  three.  First,  there  is  intervention 
for  slavery;  second,  there  is  intervention  for 
freedom  ;  and  third,  there  is  no  intervention 


Toust  cheese  or  bacon  though  it  were 
To  bait  a  mouse-trap  would  not  cure, 
'Twould  make  shoes  clean,  and  in  the  earth 
Set  leeks  and  onions  and  so  forth." 

So  much  for  the  past  position  of  the  Demo- 


cratic party  in  relation  to  intervention  in  the 
Territories.  Now,  what  is  its  present  posi- 
tion ?  Is  that  party  now  upon  the  popular 
sovereignty  platform  ?  •  Did  the  debate  in 
the  Senate  yesterday  show  that  ?  Are  they 
not  in  favor  of  intervention,  and  that  of  the 
fiercest  kind,  against  freedom  and  for  slavery 
in  the  Territories  ?  And  what  does  that  no- 


whatever.  What  is  the  present  policy  ofitice  mean  upon  your  journal  of  a  bill  to  be 
the  Democratic  party  in  relation  to  this  q'ues-  introduced  which  shall  provide  for  the  pro- 
tion  ?  and  what  has  been  its  past  position  ?  | tct;tion  of  slavery  in  the  Territories  ?  What 
I  say  that  party  has  been,  as  it  is  now,  in  fa-  mean  those  Southern  journals  when  they  de- 
vor'of  intervention  for  slavery.  I  say  that  |mand  that  a  federal  law  shall  be  made  by 
while  that  party  has  advocated  popula'r  sov-  j  Congress  for  the  protection  of  slavery  in  the 


ereignty,  and  has  elected  one  President  by 
that  advocacy,  it  has  always  persistently 
voted  against  popular  sovereignty.  It  voted 


Territories  ?     I  refer,  first,  to  the   Charles- 
ton (S.  C.)  News,  which  says  : 

"  If  the  constitution  confers  upon  slavery 


against  it  in  the  spring  of  1854,  upon   Sena-   the  right  to  go  to  the  Territories,  as  accord- 
tor  Chase's  amendment  to  the   Kansas  bill,  |  lnS  to   the    Kansas   Nebraska  bill   and   the 

Dred  Scott  decision,  it  does,  then  it  also  im- 
that  right,  and 
positive  Pro- 


civing  to  the  people  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska  , 

'  poses  the  duty  of  protectm 
the  right  to  choose  ther  own  officers.     It  was  '•  -  - 

voted   against   when   the    Toombs    bill   was 


voted  for  by  the  Democratic  party,  imposing 
a  constitution  upon  the  people  of  Kansas 
vwithout  their  approbation.  It  was  voted 
:against  by  the  Democratic  party  when  they 
voted  for  the  Lecompton  bill,  which  sought 


cannot  b< 
Slavery  leirislation  and  a  Federal  Slave  Code 


for  the  Territories." 

Again :  The  Richmond  Enquirer  says : 

"  The  right  of  property  in  slaves  in   the 
States  is  now  placed,  practically  as  well  as 


-to  impose  upon  the  people  of  Kansas  a  con-  j  legally,  beyond  the  reach  of  Federal 
rstitution,  not  only  without  their  approbation,  | tive  encroachment.     But  in  the  Territories 

:-but  in  defiance  of  their  solemn  protest     It  j^  ^  !3  dil^fnt-Q  Jt  1S  «***&**  that 
.    ^    .         l.      .         .      the  decision  or  the   Supreme  Lourt  prevents 

--•was   again   voted   against    in   rejecting   the  |  C  ss  aml  all  its  delegates  from  the  pro- 

iCnttc-ndc-n-Montgomery  amendment,  which  !  hjbition  of  slavery  in  a  Territory.  There 
•gave  to  the  people  of  Kansas  the  opportu-  I  must  be  positive  'legislative  enactment;  a 
nity  of  framing  their  own  constitution  —  of -civil  and  criminal  code  for  the  protection  of 
-choosing  under  what  organic  law  they  would  slave  property  in  the  Territories  ought  to  be 
".live.  !  provided." 

.But,  si:-,  while  the  Democratic  party  ex-  j      Jn  the  same  spirit  is  the  following  extract 
eluded  Congress  from  intervention  with  slave-   from  the  New  York  Day-Book  : 
ry  in  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  they  did  not  ex-       „  Qf  c  the       '    ]c  rf  a  Terrjt 

elude  the  President  from  interfering  by  the  J  when  thev  frame  their  State  constitution, 
use  of  his  patronage  and  power.  The  inter-  may  adopt  or  exclude  slavery;  but  while 
-vcution  .of  despotic  unity  was  preferred  to  they  are  a  Territory,  if  they  fail  to  protect 


35 


property  invested  in  the  person  or  indus- 
trial capacity  of  a  negro,  they  grossly  violate 
equal  rights,  and  therefore  are  not  author- 
ized to  consider  themselves  Democrats.  The 
•whole  question  is  resolved  into  this  simple 
right  or  no  right  to  protection  to  slave  prop- 
erty in  the  Federal  Territories,  and,  as  the 
Charleston  News  suggests,  it  must  constitute 
the  issue  of  1860." 

We  find  such  opinions  becoming  prevalent 
in  the  Democratic  party,  and  it  is  demanded 
that  they  shall  be  made  the  test  of  party 
fealty.  Then  we  must  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  Democratic  party  is  to-day 
acrainst  popular  sovereignty ;  that  it  is  in  fa- 
vor of  Federal  intervention,  of  Executive  in- 
tervention, legislative'intervention,  as  well  as 
a  judicial  intervention,  for  slavery  in  the  Ter- 
ritories of  the  Union. 

Well,  sir,  what  is  it  proposed  now  to  op- 
pose to  this  pro-slavery  intervention  in  the 
Territories  ?  Is  it  said  that  we  will  oppose 
to  it  the  Wilmot  proviso  ?  I  respect  the 
sincerity  of  those  who  recommend  this  as  a 
panacea  for  all  the  evils  that  threaten  our 
Territories,  but  I  cannot  highly  esteem 
their  intelligence  if  they  believe  it  can  be 
applied.  For  how  many  years  is  it  since 
any  party  in  Congress  had  the  power  to  pass 
the  Wilmot  proviso  in  reference  to  the  Ter- 
ritories ?  Quite  a  number.  And  how  do 
the  people  of  this  country  stand  upon  that 
question  ?  In  the  last  two  Presidential  con- 
tests they  have  repudiated  that  measure,  and 
to-day  we  find  the  people  against  it,  Congress 
against  it,  and  we  have  it  intimated  to  us 
that  the  Supreme  Court  would  declare  it  un- 
constitutional. Then,  under  these  embarrass- 
ments, shall  we  unavailingly  strive  to  apply  it 
until  all  the  territory  of  the  United  States  shall 
have  been  settled  and  its  destiny  sealed  for- 
ever, either  as  slave  or  free.  Then  it  is  an  im- 
practicable and  an  antiquated  issue,  and  sensi- 
ble and  practical  men  will  now  cease  to  urge 
it  as  a  party  policy.  Such  men  now  see  that 
they  could  not  apply  any  such  prohibition  if 
they  would,  and  I  hope  they  will  not  repudiate 
those  who  would  not  apply  it  if  they  could. 

If  then,  as  I  have  shown,  there  can  be  no 
Federal  intervention  for  freedom  in  the  Ter- 
ritories, we  can  only  choose  between  inter- 
vention for  slavery,  and  no  intervention  at 
all.  Then,  sir,  without  hesitation,  while  I 
deny  no  principle  of  the  Republican  party,  I 
advocate  the  adoption  of  the  policy  of  no 


more  Federal  intervention  with  respect  to 
slavery  in  the  Territories. 

But  what  really  is  the  position  of  the  Re- 
publican party  upon  this  question  ?  Can 
you  show  an  instance  in  our  history  in 
which  we  have  gone  against  honest  popular 
sovereignty  in  the  Territories  ?  What  act 
in  this  House,  or  in  the  Senate,  will  show 
that  the  Republican  party  has  been  against 
popular  sovereignty  ?  During  the  contest 
in  Kansas  all  we  asked  was  that  the  people 
should  be  let  alone,  and  that  they  should 
have  the  right  to  do  as  they  pleased.  We 
voted  for  the  Chase  amendment  in  1854. 
And  how  did  we  vote  last  session  upon  the 
Crittenden-Montgomery  bill  ?  Every  man 
upon  this  side  of  the  House  sustained  it. 
Are  we  not  then  the  party  not  only  in  favor, 
but  also  in  possession  of  popular  sovereignty? 
We  have  captured  that  gun  before  the  enemy 
had  even  used  it,  and  now  we  propose  to  test 
its  range  and  accuracy  by  some  experiments 
on  the  Democratic  party. 

But  does  any  man  say  that  he  voted  for  the 
Crittenden-Montgomery  bill  in  an  emergency, 
and  that  he  sacrificed  his  principles  in  doing 
it  ?  I  doubt  whether  this  will  be  said.  I  did 
not  sacrifice  my  principles  by  that  vote  ;  on 
the  contrary,  I  voted  in  accordance  with  my 
principles.  And,  sir,  I  have  but  a  poor  re- 
spect for  principles  that  will  not  do  in  an 
emergency,  —  that  will  not  do  in  a  storm. 
Such  principles  are  not  fit  to  keep  in  fair 
weather.  Well,  sir,  that  is  the  policy  of  the 
Republican  party, — at  least,  it  is  the  practice 
of  the  Republican  party,  and  non-intervention 
is  perfectly  consistent,  therefore,  with  its  pres- 
ent principles.  It  is  not  only  perfectly  con- 
sistent for  the  party,  but  it  is  perfectly  safe, 
as  I  will  show  you,  for  the  cause  of  freedom. 
I  can  refer  you  to  the  history  of  Kansas. 
Kansas,  without  any  protection  for  freedom, 
has  become  a  free  State,  or  at  least  she  is  this 
day  prepared  to  be  a  free  State,  and  will 
never  be  any  thing  less.  In  defiance  of  nu- 
merous obstacles  in  the  way  of  obtaining  her 
freedom,  she  has  bravely  secured  it.  In  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  Platte  purchase, 
the  most  intensely  pro-slavery  portion  of  Mis- 
souri, there,  almost  in  the  bosom  of  slave 
States,  there,  far  removed  from  the  States 
of  the  North,  which  furnish  emigrants  to  the 
West,  and  with  all  the  force  of  the  General 
Government  against  freedom,  and  for  slavery 
in  the  Territory,  the  free  State  heroes  have 


36 


triumphed ;  and  not  only  that,  but  they  have 
put  forth  many  times  the  power  which  was 
requisite  to  accomplish  the  grand  result.  If 
it  had  not  been  for  Executive  intervention, 
and  for  the  cowardly  predictions  of  faint- 
hearted anti-slavery  men  in  the  North,  that 
Kansas  would  be  lost,  I  think,  sir,  that  the 
contest  might  have  been  ended  before  the 
year  1856. 

But  as  it  was,  notwithstanding  all  the  ob- 
stacles in  her  way,  the  contest  began  to  grow 
insipid  during  that  year  for  want  of  opposition 
from  the  pro-slavery  side,  and  I  left  it,  as 
Atchison  and  Stringfellow  had  already  done. 
Since  that  time  we  know  very  well  what  has 
been  the  history  of  Kansas.  It  is  now  ap- 
parent that  there  are  at  least  eight  or  nine 
free  State  men  in  that  Territory  to  one  slave 
State  man.  Whatever  may  have  been  in- 
tended, such,  sir,  has  been  the  effect  of  adopt- 
ing this  principle,  which  has  compelled  North- 
ern men  to  rely  upon  themselves,  and  act 
upon  their  own  responsibility  in  this  matter 
o?  making  free  States.  This  is  safer  than  to 
leave  this  question  to  Congress  and  to  law.  I 
have  a  thousand  times  more  confidence  in  the 
people  than  I  have  in  Congress  on  this  sub- 
ject. 

Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  compare  the  resources 
of  these  two  causes  that  contend  for  pre-emi- 
nence in  the  Territories, — free  labor  and  slave 
labor.  How  do  we  find  the  wealth  and  num- 
bers of  the  North  when  contrasted  with  those 
of  the  South  ?  I  shall  not  dwell  upon  this 
point,  for  on  a  former  occasion  I  opened  that 
greatest  book  of  martyrs,  —  the  Census  of  the 
United  States,  —  and  showed  how  these  facts 
were. 

But  how  do  the  North  and  South  compare 
in  the  power  of  combination  ?  Why,  we  men 
of  the  North,  called  the  Northern  hive,  live 
in  towns  and  villages.  Even  our  agricultural 
districts  are  quite  densely  peopled.  We  have, 
in  Massachusetts,  one  hundred  and  thirty  men 
to  the  square  mile.  If  there  is  any  difficulty 
abroad  or  at  home,  —  if  there  is  any  need  for 
immediate  action  or  remote  action,  it  is  easy 
for  us  to  assemble,  and  consult,  and  determine 
what  action  is  needed,  and  what  shall  be  most 
effective.  And,  sir,  when  it  was  necessary  to 
put  some  colonies  into  Kansas,  I  found  no 
difficulty  in  having  meetings  in  these  towns 
and  villages  at  very  short  notice.  Plans  were 
formed  for  making  colonies,  and  for  taking 
possession  of  the  country  in  dispute,  and  thus 


the  result  contemplated  was  accomplished. 
But  how  can  any  such  concert  of  action  exist 
in  that  part  of  our  country  where  there  is 
only  eighty-nine  one-hundredths  of  a  man  to 
a  square  mile !  What  chance  of  holding 
meetings,  of  kindling  enthusiasm,  of  taking 
council,  and  of  laying  plans  for  accomplishing 
Krand  results  ?  None  whatever. 

Then,  sir,  added  to  this  ready  combination, 
we  also  have  great  facilities  of  locomotion. 
Our  people  can  migrate  with  but  little  diffi- 
culty. If  there  were  a  meeting  to-night  to 
put  a  colony  into  Kansas,  all  the  arrangement 
might  be  perfected,  and  complete  preparation 
made  for  starting  in  two  weeks.  The  next 
day  after  the  meeting  you  would  see  flaming 
hand-bills  on  the  streets  headed,  "  Ho  for 
Kansas  ! "  "  Property  for  Sale  ! "  Daguerreo- 
types of  some  "  familiar  faces,"  and  perhaps 
the  old  homestead,  would  be  taken,  and  in 
two  weeks  the  colony,  on  the  lightning  train, 
following  a  pillar  of  cloud  by  day,  and  a  pillar 
of  fire  by  night,  would  be  going  on  its  way  to 
their  prairie  home. 

How  can  a  Southern  planter  hope  to  rival 
this  speed  and  readiness  of  transition  ?  After 
he  has  determined  to  emigrate,  his  plantation 
is  to  be  sold,  and  the  purchaser  is  to  be  hunted 
up,  and  much  time  is  required.  And  after  a 
purchaser  is  found,  credit  must  be  given  of 
from  one  to  twenty  years.  But  suppose  all 
this  accomplished,  and  the  whole  train  of  ser- 
vants made  ready  for  the  journey,  how  like  a 
funeral  procession  would  they  appear  loiter- 
ing along  through  the  swamps  of  Alabama 
and  Mississippi.  No,  sir,  you  cannot  compete 
with  us  in  this  game  of  emigration.  We  evi- 
dently have  the  advantage  of  you  every  way. 
You  have  not  power  to  make  a  contest  in  this 
matter  interesting.  I  say  this  in  no  spirit  of 
malignant  exultation.  I  am  laying  down  facts, 
and  I  wish  Southern  men  to  understand  their 
bearing  and  inevitable  consequences. 

But,  sir,  the  Southern  planter  does  not  take 
his  force  of  negroes  to  a  disputed  Territory. 
The  case  which  I  was  just  now  supposing 
never  really  occurs  in  practice.  It  did  not 
once  occur  during  the  contest  for  the  Terri- 
tory of  Kansas.  I  have  never  heard  of  a 
single  slaveholder  who  took  there  even  as 
many  as  five  negroes. 

The  spirit  of  devotion  and  the  spirit  of 
Christianity  sometimes  prompt  to  great  sacri- 
fices, but  I  am  compelled  to  believe  that  the 
Southern  planters  are  few  in  number  who 


37 


will  hazard  the  loss  of  their  slaves,  even  for 
the  grand  purpose  of  securing  "  scope  and 
verge  "  to  African  Christianization. 

If,  then,  there  is  no  motive  of  Christianity 
potent  enough  to  influence  slaveholders  to 
move  •with  their  slaves  to  the  Territories  of 
the  West,  there  certainly  can  be  no  other 
sufficient  inducement.  There  can  be  no 
pecuniary  inducement  to  convey  slaves  where 
the  very  soil  under  their  feet  will  be  in  dis- 
pute, and  where  the  slaves  themselves  may 
be  confiscated  by  an  organic  law  excluding 
slavery  from  the  new  State,  or  by  the  statute 
law  of  the  Territory,  called  "  unfriendly  leg- 
islation." 

Again,  sir,  there  is  a  converting  power  in 
these  free  State  colonies,  and  it  is  a  wonder- 
ful power.  I  assert,  on  the  best  authority, 
that  the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  Kansas, 
who  went  there  from  slave  States,  are  to-day 
free  State  men.  They  came  in  contact  with 
these  Northern  communities,  they  learned 
some  facts  of  which  they  were  not  before 
cognizant,  and  they  made  up  their  minds 
that  it  was  best  for  them  and  their  children 
that  Kansas  should  be  a  free  State.  This 
converting  influence  extended  to  the  Gover- 
nors of  the  Territory.  "  The  extinguishers 
themselves  took  fire,"  and  to  this  day  they 
give  a  charmingly  brilliant  light. 

Now,  sir,  in  addition  to  these  resources, 
contrast  the  causes  themselves,  which  are  in 
conflict.  Contrast  free  labor  with  slave  labor. 
What  are  their  histories  and  what  their  rel- 
ative power  ?  Free  labor  has  covered  the 
once  sterile  hills  of  New  England  with  or- 
chards and  gardens  and  corn-fields.  It  has 
filled  our  valleys  with  the  music  of  machinery 
and  the  hum  of  busy  industry.  The  same 
creating  power  has  built  thriving  cities  and 
towns  upon  our  western  waters,  and  clothed 
the  prairies  with  fields  of  waving  grain.  Scal- 
ing the  Rocky  Mountains,  the  same  majestic 
power  has  opened  the  golden  gates  of  the 
Pacific,  and  has  transformed  the  solitary  wil- 
derness, 

"  Where  rolled  the  Oregon,  and  heard  no  sound, 
Save  his  own  dashings," 

into  a  prosperous  State,  destined  to  become 
the  most  important  seat  of  commerce  and 
manufactures  on  our  Western  coast. 

Here  are  some  of  the  trophies  of  free  labor. 
Others  yet,  and  greater,  will  be  secured  in 
the  future.  Stronger  than  Briareus,  and  pos- 


sessing more  arms  than  the  giant  monster 
brought  to  defend  the  throne  of  Jupiter 
against  assailing  Titans,  free  labor,  unaided 
by  law,  relying  solely  on  its  own  inherent 
energy,  will  always  be  found  able  to  protect 
its  own  inheritance. 

But  where  are  the  triumphs  of  slave  labor  ? 
I  will  not  reply,  —  I  press  this  comparison  no 
further. 

Now,  sir,  there  is  no  chance  of  making 
another  slave  State  from  any  Territory  be- 
longing to  this  Confederacy.  I  state  this  as 
a  fair  and  well-founded  conclusion,  that  it 
may  be  considered  by  men  from  all  portions 
of  the  country.  I  think  that  sensible  men 
from  the  South  already  consider  it  a  settled 
fact.  What  need,  then,  of  quarrelling  about 
measures  for  securing  what  is  already  secure  ? 
Security  is  all  we  ask,  and  that  we  have. 
That  is  the  grand  result  of  a  contest  to  which 
you  invited  us,  and  to  which  we  reluctantly 
came.  We  did  not  propose  to  you  this  very 
unequal  game  of  emigration.  It  was  a  game 
which  was  proposed  by  the  Democratic  party, 
and  the  South  enlisted  in  it,  under  the  lead 
of  that  party.  And  what  was  the  stake  ? 
You  compelled  the  North  to  stake  Kansas  on 
that  game,  while  you  voluntarily  offered  to 
stake  all  the  other  Territories.  For  one,  I 
was  ready  to  accept  that  challenge.  I  was 
ready  to  enter  upon  that  game  upon  such 
terms.  I  did  do  it.  I  do  not  now  regret  it. 
I  do  not  want  it  otherwise  than  it  is;  for  all 
that  we  have  lost  in  achieving  the  victory 
that  we  have  gained  is  more  than  ten  thou- 
sand times  repaid  in  that  disciplined  army  of 
freemen,  who  are  determined  to  see  that  all 
is  right,  from  Minnesota  to  the  Gulf  of  Mex- 
ico. These  are  the  facts,  and  it  is  better  for 
the  whole  country  that  such  are  the  facts. 

There  are  two  blunders  that  the  South  has 
made  in  following  the  lead  of  the  Democratic 
party.  The  first  is  the  blunder  of  the  free 
trade  policy,  which  has  compelled  us  to  leave 
our  native  homes  and  make  free  States  in  the 
West.  We  could  not  be  idle,  and  when  you 
would  not  let  us  make  cloth  in  New  England, 
we  have  gone  about  making  States  on  the 
prairies.  What,  now,  would  have  been  the 
result,  if  an  opposite  policy  had  prevailed  ? 
What,  if  the  South  and  the  Democratic  party 
had  allowed  abundant  protection  to  our  man- 
ufacturing industry  ?  By  that  protection  our 
manufactures  in  New  England  would  have 
increased  in  nearly  the  same  ratio  as  the  pro- 


38 


duction  of  cotton  in  the  Southern  States. 
That  has  been  the  fact  essentially  with  the 
cotton  manufactures  of  England.  Why  would 
it  not  have  been  so  with  our  own,  had  they 
been  sufficiently  protected.  But  ours  have 
remained  almost  stationary  for  the  want  of 
this  protection.  We  have  therefore  gone  about 
making  markets  for  our  future  products,  and 
in  that  we  have  done  well.  If  our  manufac- 
turing industry  had  been  protected  as  I  sug- 
gested, New  England  would  to-day  have  had 
double  her  present  population,  and  I  think 
that  our  free  States  would  not  have  extended 
one  whit  beyond  the  Mississippi.  I  doubt 
whether  they  would  have  gone  beyond  Indi- 
ana. The  South  could  have  taken  possession 
of  the  great  West  by  that  policy ;  she  would 
have  become  the  agricultural  power  of  the 
Union  emphatically.  But  now  free  labor  lias 
already  taken  possession  of  much,  and,  as  I 
have  shown,  will  yet  take  possession  of  the  re- 
mainder of  the  public  domain.  The  thing  is 
inevitable.  It  must  come.  I  do  not  stand 
here,  as  a  New  England  man,  to  find  fault 
with  these  results ;  whatever  may  be  said  about 
the  motives  which  secured  them,  the  results 
are  good.  We  have  secured  for  all  future 
time,  the  best  market  in  the  world,  and  New 
England  will  yet  see  brighter  and  better  days 
than  she  has  ever  yet  seen.  No  portion  of 
the  country  can  ever  compete  with  her  in  the 
manufacture  of  cloths,  or  of  boots  and  shoes ; 
no  portion  can  ever  compete  with  her  in  ship- 
building, or  in  the  carrying  trade  of  the  At- 
lantic coast.  She  has  now  prepared  for  her- 
self this  extensive  market  of  free  States,  which 
is  every  day  increasing.  The  difference  be- 
tween a  free  State  market  and  a  slave  State 
market  is  almost  beyond  calculation.  It  is  a 
difference  based  both  on  the  quantity  and  the 
quality  of  the  goods  which  we  manufacture, 
as  well  as  on  the  security  for  pay.  Who,  then, 
can  condemn  us  -for  having  enlisted  in  this 
crusade  for  freedom  in  Kansas  with  so  much 
zeal,  when  we  understood  that  her  freedom 
would  inure  to  the  benefit  of  New  England 
industry  hereafter  forever  V 

Some  men  may  have  had  a  more  exalted 
motive — no  doubt  many  had — no  doubt  there 
was  much  of  sentiment,  and  much  of  benev- 
olence and  Christianity  also,  in  these  efforts; 
but  if  there  had  been  nothing  but  wise  pecu- 
niary forecast  in  them,  even  that  would  have 
been  reason  enough  for  our  honest  efforts  to 


make  free  States.  Here,  then,  we  see  that 
the  free-trade  policy  of  the  slave  States  has 
effectually  restricted  slavery  and  extended 
freedom. 

The  second  grand  political  blunder  of  the 
South,  under  the  lead  of  the  Democratic 
party,  was  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise. When  you  rested  on  the  pledges 
of  implied  law,  you  were  sure  of  securing  for 
slavery  a  large  portion  of  the  public  domain  ; 
but  when,  under  the  delusive  hope  of  ac- 
quiring Kansas,  you  invited  the  North  to  con- 
tend with  you  in  this  game  of  emigration, 
you  abandoned  the  last  solitary  hope  of  slav- 
ery extension  on  this  continent.  This  Kan- 
sas contest  has  created  more  working  anti- 
slavery  than  all  other  causes  in  our  history. 
To  be  sure,  we  had  some  dreaming  senti- 
mentalists before,  who  felt  enough,  but  who 

.•         . 
expended  their  feeling  in  harmless  speeches 

and  resolutions.  There  were,  also,  some  po- 
litical anti-slavery  men,  who  relied  on  law 
and  nothing  else  to  restrict  slavery  and  ex- 
tend freedom.  But  the  repeal  of  that  com- 
promise gave  us  free  State  settlers  instead  of 
free  State  sentiments.  It  made  the  people 
rely  upon  themselves  rather  than  on  law  and 
politicians.  It  has  given  us  a  race  of  workers 
instead  of  a  race  of  wishers  ;  and  now,  what- 
ever may  come  hereafter,  we  shall  always  re- 
member that  the  surest  defence  of  freedom  is 
a  guard  of  free  men  at  the  point  of  conflict. 
The  history  of  that  conflict  has  shown  us  that 
the  extension  of  freedom  has  no  necessary 
connection  with  the  success  of  party  politics ; 
that  the  people,  independent  of  political  or- 
ganizations, can  make  free  States,  even  when 
the  whole  power  of  this  government  is  exer- 
cised against  them.  Who,  then,  can  for  a 
moment  doubt  concerning  the  result  when 
the  people  shall  have  fair  play  and  non-inter- 
vention in  the  Territories  by  the  Federal 
Government,  instead  of  perpetual  and  per- 
sistent federal  intervention  for  slavery  ? 

These  two  comprehensive  blunders  of  the 
South,  under  the  Democratic  party — the  free 
trade  policy  and  the  emigration  contest  —  in- 
duced by  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise, have  secured  beyond  question  the  free- 
dom of  every  foot  of  the  national  domain. 
In  commemoration  of  these  transcendent 
Southern  illusions,  I  think  the  abolitionists 
ought  to  erect  one  grand  enduring  monu- 
ment. 


39 


How,  then,  can  this  policy  of  non-inter- 
vention in  the  Territories,  which  I  have  ad- 
vocated, be  embodied  and  made  practical  ? 
There  are  two  ways  by  which  that  may  be 
accomplished.  One  way  is,  by  allowing  the 
people  of  the  Territories  to  elect  all  their 
officers.  I  am  utterly  opposed  to  the  organ- 
ization of  another  Territory  without  such  a 
provision  in  the  organizing  act.  Another 
•way  is,  to  allow  no  more  Territorial  organ- 
ization whatever.  Some  men  may  consider 
this  as  unsafe.  I  do  not  recommend  it  now 
as  a  policy.  I  suggest  it  as  a  policy  to  be 
considered,  whether  it  might  not  be  better 
hereafter,  never,  in  any  way,  to  increase  our 
provincial  dependencies.  Such  dependen- 
cies do  not  become  this  government.  They 
are  entirely  hostile  to  the  genius  of  republi- 
can institutions.  There  is  nothing  in  the  or- 
igin of  this  nation  which  should  encourage 
this  provincial  system  for  our  Territories.  I 
would  feel  perfectly  safe  to  allow  our  emi- 
grants, with  the  Bible  and  the  common  law, 
with  the  axe  and  the  plough,  to  go  into  the 
national  domain  and  take  care  of  themselves. 
How  would  such  a  policy  affect  the  Treasury 
of  the  United  States?  It  would  save  us  mil- 
lions of  dollars  annually.  Our  people  would 
then  go  forward  in  solid  phalanx.  They 
would  be  able  to  protect  themselves.  There 
would  be  no  deterioration  in  education  or 
morals  ;  for  the  settlers,  living  contiguous  to 
each  other,  could  support  schools  and  church- 
es. We  would  then  have  no  difficulty  what- 
ever arising  from  Indian  wars,  and  no  diffi- 
culty arising  from  the  numerous  applications 
of  Territorial  office-seekers. 

Sir,  we  have  history  on  our  side  in  favor 
of  that  policy.  The  people  of  Oregon  gov- 
erned themselves  for  ten  years  before  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  extended  their 
protecting  hand  over  the  colony.  They  had 
a  perfect  system  of  government — a  perfect 
system  for  the  administration  of  justice 
They  had  a  symmetrical  and  well-appointee 
government  in  all  its  branches.  They  estab- 
lished post  offices  and  post  roads.  According 
to  the  testimony  of  the  first  Governor  of  that 
Territory,  every  thing  was  progressing  with 
as  much  regularity  and  order  and  success  a 
it  could  have  been  if  it  had  been  all  planned 
by  the  powers  in  this  city,  and  put  in  oper- 
ation by  their  agents.  But  we  have  a  pres- 
ent example.  Dacotah  is  to-day  without  a 
Territorial  government,  and  yet  we  hear  of 


no  disturbances  there.     The  people  have  es- 
tablished a  government  for  themselves,  and 
[  much   doubt  whether  it  is  in  the  power  of 
bngress  to  improve  it  by  establishing,  in  its 
stead,  a  non-resident  jurisdiction.     But,  sir, 
there  are  earlier  examples  of  the  successful 
working  of  this  policy  than  are  furnished  by 
ither   Oregon  or  Djicotah.     I  refer  to  the 
arly  colonies  of  Plymouth,  Providence,  and 
New  Haven,  whose  histories  are  household 
words. 

Wherever  you  look,  you  find  that  our 
people,  whether  they  be  few  or  many,  are 
abundantly  able  to  take  care  of  themselves. 
Therefore,  I  suggest,  as  a  policy  to  be  con- 
sidered—  whether  there  shall  hereafter  be 
another  Territory  organized  in  the  national 
domain — whether  we  have  not  had  sectional 
quarrels  enough  and  difficulties  enough  about 
provincial  dependencies,  to  induce  us  to  create 
no  more,  and  as  speedily  as  possible  to  get 
rid  of  what  we  now  have. 

Now,  sir,  I  have  advocated  an  open  field 
for  a  fair  conflict  between  these  two  opposing 
systems  of  labor.  If  you,  sir,  claim  that  slave 
labor  is  a  divine  institution,  I  claim  that  free 
labor  is  a  divine  institution,  and  I,  for  one, 
am  willing  that  hereafter  the  two  institutions 
shall  honestly  contend  and  grapple,  and  that 
the  stronger  shall  prevail,  and  I  will  acknowl- 
edge that  the  one  which  shall  prove  the 
stronger  in  a  fair  contest  is  the  more  divine. 

Now,  sir,  in  all  that  I  have  said  upon  this 
subject,  I  have  nowhere  denied  the  power  of 
Congress  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  Terri- 
tories. On  the  contrary,  I  believe  that  power 
is  clearly  established,  not  only  by  legal  con- 
struction of  the  highest  authority,  but  also 
by  the  authority  of  our  history  and  practice. 
Still,  sir,  I  should  deem  the  exercise  of  that 
power  inexpedient  at  the  present  time  if  it 
could  be  applied.  Nothing  should  be  at- 
tempted by  law  which  can  be  accomplished 
without  law.  The  extension  and  security  of 
free  labor  cannot  be  effected  by  law,  but  by 
work.  It  would  be  a  hazardous  security  for 
the  North  to  rely  on  law  to  prohibit  slavery 
in  the  Territories,  when,  she  can  so  much 
more  safely  rely  upon  herself.  But,  sir,  we 
have  no  power  to  prohibit  it  by  law,  and 
since  we  have  not,  I  do  not  regret  the  fact ;  I 
say  that  I  am  willing  that  this  conflict  should 
go  on,  and  that  it  should  come  to  a  decision 
which  is  based  upon  the  merits  of  the  con- 
tending systems,  and  upon  nothing  else.  And 


40 


the  more  cheerfully  do  I  assent  to  this  ar- 
rangement, because  it  will  furnish  a  sound 
basis  of  legislation  to  ages  yet  to  be.  But  if 
to-day  slavery  is  obstructed  by  law,  if  to-day 
slavery  is  crushed  out  by  the  legal  enactments 
of  this  General  Government,  and  not  by  the 
laws  of  the  communities  in  which  it  is  prac- 
tised, then  what  objection  could  be  urged 
when  a  future  generation,  here  or  elsewhere, 
shall  propose  to  establish  slavery  instead  of 
free  labor  V  Why,  it  would  be  said  that  slav- 
ery did  not  have  a  fair  trial  in  the  United 
States  of  America;  that  it  was  crushed  by 
the  opposing  force  of  law ;  that  it  did  not  fall 
from  its  own  inherent  weakness  and  lack  of 
vitality ;  and  there  might  be  force  in  that  ar- 
gument. 

But,  now,  let  the  question  be  determined  by 
the  merits  of  the  two  contesting  systems,  and 
let  the  mighty  and  majestic  power  of  free 
labor  overthrow  and  destroy  slave  labor  in  a 
fair  fight,  as  it  surely  will,  then  what  will  be 
the  effect  upon  the  future?  Why,  if  any 
legislator  shall  then  presume  to  suggest  to 
this  nation,  or  to  any  other,  that  slavery  is 
better  than  freedom,  and  shall  make  an  hon- 
est proposition  that  it  be  established,  the  stu- 
dent of  history  will  meet  him,  and,  turning 
back  to  the  records  of  this  contest,  will  show 
him  the  evidence  of  the  invincible  power  of 
freedom,  and  of  the  inherent  imbecility  of 
slavery.  lie  will  trace  the  majestic  progress 
of  free  labor  all  the  way  across  this  continent, 
from  the  granite  hills  of  New  England  to  the 
rocky  ramparts  of  the  Pacific.  lie  will  show 
that  it  was  mightier  than  Presidents  and 
Princes,  Courts  and  Counsellors,  Cabinets  and 
Congresses.  While  slavery,  nurtured  and 
caressed  by  the  whole  power  of  this  confed- 
eracy, appeared  but  a  dwarfed  and  impotent 
cripple,  in  this  contest  with  the  heaven-born 
giant.  Then,  sir,  ages  hence,  when  the  ac- 
tors in  these  present  scenes  shall  have  been 
forgotten,  should  it  be  proposed  again  to  es- 
tablish slavery,  in  this  or  in  any  other  land, 
the  people  will  ponder  upon  the  progress  and 
the  grand  result  of  this  last  great  battle  be- 
tween these  hostile  powers,  and  will  proclaim 
with  one  voice  that  freedom,  having  fairly 
conquered,  shall  evermore  remain  in  posses- 
sion of  the  field,  and  of  the  well-earned  lau- 
rels of  victory. 


The  vexed  Utah  question  was  on  the  car- 
pet during  the  next  session  of  Congress,  and 


Mr.  Thayer  gave  expression  to  his  views  on 
POLYGAMY,  on  the  3d  of  April,  of  the  pres- 
ent year.  His  individuality  of  thought  is 
plainly  stamped  on  the  speech,  and  his  genius 
for  solving  knotty  problems  in  politics  in  a 
practical  way  is  brought  into  the  fort-ground 
more  than  ever.  The  army  had  been  tried 
in  Utah,  but  to  no  purpose ;  the  topic  only 
returned  upon  Congress  to  haunt  it  with  a 
consciousness  of  its  own  inefficiency.  In  this 
dilemma,  the  plan  suggested  by  Mr.  Thayer 
was  hailed  as  an  ingenious  one,  certainly  a 
a  peaceable  one,  and,  what  is  best  of  all,  as 
a  perfectly  practical  one.  Not  all  legislators 
can  say  this  of  their  suggestions.  His  plan 
was  for  a  reconstruction  of  the  old  territorial 
boundaries,  so  as  to  divide  up  Utah  between 
the  population  at  Pike's  Peak,  and  that  in 
Carson  Valley ;  and  thus  the  people  themselves, 
rather  than  Congress,  would  dispose  of  the 
evil  of  polygamy  on  the  spot.  The  simple 
proposition  shows  its  author  to  be  of  a  states- 
manlike turn,  and  a  man  to  be  looked  to  in 
any  public  emergency. 

Said  Mr.  THAYER  —  Mr.  Speaker,  it  has 
become  apparent,  in  the  progress  of  this  de- 
bate, that  there  is  at  least  one  question  on 
which  the  representatives  of  all  portions  of 
the  country  may  agree.  Every  member  from 
every  section  of  the  Union  is  ready  to  assert 
the  odious  criminality  of  polygamy.  It  is  en- 
couraging, it  is  refreshing,  to  know  that  there 
is  at  least  one  subject  on  which  there  is  no 
sectionalism,  in  relation  to  which  we  have 
not  heard  the  Representatives  of  North  Car- 
olina boasting  that  their  people  arc  much 
better  than  those  of  Massachusetts,  nor  the 
Representatives  of  the  State  of  New  York 
boasting  that  their  people  are  better  than 
those  of  Mississippi. 

There  is  really,  now,  one  practical  ques- 
tion before  us  for  our  decision ;  and,  sir,  in 
my  remarks  upon  it,  I  shall  not  treat  it  as  an 
abstraction.  I  shall  not  treat  it  as  a  figure 
of  speech,  nor  as  a  legal  technicality.  Po- 
lygamy is  an  existing  fact ;  and  as  an  exist- 
ing fact,  while  I  agree  with  members  from 
every  part  of  the  country  in  denouncing  it,  I 
will  so  act  as  to  insure  its  most  speedy  exter- 
mination. Is  this  a  fact,  sir,  which  began  to- 
day, or  yesterday,  or  last  week  ?  I  should 
suppose,  from  the  zeal  which  is  manifested 
here,  that  it  never  was  heard  of  till  the  be- 
ginning of  this  session  of  Congress. 


41 


But,  sir,  some  thirteen  years  ago,  one 
Brigham  Young,  a  shrewd  and  selfish  and 
unscrupulous  adventurer,  led  certain  Mor- 
mons from  Illinois,  or  from  Missouri,  across 
what  was  then  called  the  great  American 
desert,  by  a  long  and  wearisome  journey,  to 
the  basin  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake.  Poor,  de- 
luded, ignorant  fanatics  were  his  followers, 
who,  from  having  no  religion  at  all,  had  been 
captivated  by  the  theories  of  Joe  Smith,  and 
had  joined  the  ranks  of  the  Latter  Day 
Saints.  From  time  to  time,  there  have  been 
accessions  to  their  number.  Year  after  year, 
the}'  have  come  from  Wales  and  Scotland, 
from  England  and  Germany,  and  from  the 
States  of  this  Confederacy.  About  two  years 
ago,  they  attained  their  highest  power.  They 
are  now  declining  in  strength,  harmony,  and 
consolidation,  and  are  diminishing  in  num- 
bers. As  a  separate  and  peculiar  community, 
they  are  doomed  to  speedy  extinction.  Con- 
gress has  endured  their  increasing  strength, 
and  the  insolence  of  their  highest  power, 
without  action.  Can  we  not  possibly  endure 
their  decline  and  extermination,  without  this 
exhibition  of  paper  authority  and  of  spas- 
modic morality  ? 

In  the  course  of  these  thirteen  years  of 
Mormon  history,  we  have  had  a  Whig  Ad- 
ministration, we  have  had  two  Democratic 
Administrations,  and  at  one  time,  for  one 
Congress,  the  Republicans  had  the  organiza- 
tion of  this  House ;  and  sir,  there  never  has 
been  an  act  passed  against  this  crime,  to 
make  it  a  penal  offence.  There  it  was,  be- 
fore the  eyes  of  the  country,  before  the  world, 
and  before  Congress ;  but  still  no  party,  until 
this  day,  has  taken  the  responsibility  of  pro- 
posing that  it  should  be  abolished  by  penal 
statute  and  by  force  of  arms.  Now  there 
seems,  as  I  said  before,  to  be  a  feeling  in  this 
House,  not  known  in  the  community  at  all, 
which  could  be  accounted  for  only  on  the 
supposition  that  polygamy  never  was  heard 
of  till  to-day.  There  is  a  spasm,  sir,  of  mo- 
rality, or  a  paroxysm,  or  a  panic,  or  some- 
thing that  seems  to  impel  certain  men  to  feel 
the  necessity  of  voting,  and  of  voting  now, 
against  polygamy,  at  all  hazards. 

Mr.  REAGAX.  I  desire  to  correct  the  gen- 
tleman on  a  point  of  fact.  He  is  mistaken 
in  supposing  that  nothing  has  ever  been  done 
upon  this  subject.  I  introdued  a  resolution 
during  the  last  Congress,  which  was  adopted 


by  the  House,  referring  the  subject  to  the 
Judiciary  Committee  for  inquiry. 

Mr.  TIIAYEU.  I  said  no  act  had  been 
passed.  That  was  my  assertion.  And  now, 
sir,  there  is  most  intense  zeal  manifested  that 
something  shall  be  voted  —  voted,  not  done  — 
to  exterminate  polygamy  in  Utah.  Worst  of 
all,  it  appears  that  this  act  of  voting  would 
I  seem  to  satisfy  some  consciences,  even  though 
this  very  vote  should  prolong  the  existence 
of  that  iniquitous  institution.  It  would  seem 
to  satisfy  some  consciences  —  I  will  not  call 
them  stupid,  or  sluggish,  or  dead  —  that  they 
voted  against  polygamy.  Sir,  if  the  ability 
of  these  gentlemen  to  execute  were  equal  to 
their  zeal  to  enact,  we  might  almost  say  that 
omnipotence  would  be  one  of  their  weak- 
nesses. But  it  is  not  proposed  to  execute ; 
and  there  is  no  party  in  this  country  to-day, 
and  there  has  been  no  party  in  this  country 
during  the  last  thirteen  years,  that  would 
dare  to  vote  bayonets  and  revolvers  to  shoot 
or  stab  polygamy  out  of  Brigham  Young  and 
his  followers.  What,  sir,  do  the  Judiciary 
Committee  ask  us  to  do  ?  What  claim  do 
they  present  for  our  votes  in  favor  of  this  bill  ? 
What  is  claimed  ?  Why,  that  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  should  make  an  expres- 
sion of  opinion,  so  that  the  world  may  know 
that  the  United  States  of  America  are  really 
opposed  to  polygamy  ?  How  much  better, 
Mr.  Speaker,  we  shall  stand  before  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth,  when  we  shall  have  really 
shown  them  —  what  they  may  now  be  in 
doubt  about  —  that  we  are  actually  opposed 
to  polygamy  ?  When  we  shall  have  shown 
it,  not  by  doing  any  thing  against  the  iniquity, 
but  by  a  solemn  vote,  recorded  upon  the 
journals  of  this  House  ! 

Now,  sir,  I  say  that  any  such  expression 
of  sentiment  is  superfluous.  There  is  no 
State  in  this  Union  that  has  not  made  polyg- 
amy a  penal  offence  already;  and  what  is 
the  combined  expression  of  the  Representa- 
tives of  these  States,  more  than  the  individ- 
ual expression  of  each  of  the  States  acting 
in  its  individual  capacity  ?  Do  we  by  this 
combined  action,  add  any  thing  to  the  force 
of  all  that  separate  action  ?  Certainly  not. 
The  world  understands  now  well  enough  that 
this  country  is  opposed  to  polygamy,  and  it 
never  will  understand  it  any  better  by  a  vote 
of  Congress,  the  whole  effect  of  which  will 
be  to  prolong  the  existence  of  that  institution. 


42 


Then,  sir,  as  an  expression  of  sentiment,  this 
bill  is  superfluous.  But  more  than  that.  It 
is  urged  by  some  as  a  penal  statute.  "Will  it 
be  enforced  ?  I  say  no ;  and  I  tell  you  that, 
should  the  bill  pass,  neither  you  nor  I  will 
ever  live  to  see  a  party  which  will  dare  to 
vote  money  and  instruct  the  President  to  use 
it  in  putting  in  operation  and  in  enforcing 
the  penal  statute  which  this  bill  proposes. 

Then,  sir,  what  docs  it  amount  to  ?  I  say, 
as  a  penal  statute  it  is  powerless.  I  will  not 
CO  into  the  anjument  now  to  show  whv  it 

O  <-  * 

ought  not  to  be  enforced,  or  the  cruelty  of 
attempting  to  enforce  it  against  these  men, 
who  never  could  understand  why  the  bill  was 
enacted.  I  will  not  go  into  the  argument  about 
the  expense  of  millions  that  it  would  cost 
this  Government  to  enforce  it ;  or  that  it 
would  give  the  Mormons  reason  to  charge 
that  we  have  made  use  of  persecution  against 
them,  driving  them  to  the  mountains  and 
bunting  them  there  like  partridges,  or  that  it 
would  inevitably  prolong  the  existence  of  the 
institution  which  it  proposes  to  abolish.  All 
these  questions  I  pass  by,  for  there  is  nobody 
here  who  claims  that  it  is  the  purpose  of  any 
party  to  vote^  money  or  instructions  to  enforce 
this  penal  statute.  . 

But,  sir,  it  is  said  that  the  honor  and  au- 
thority of  the  United  States  must  be  vindi- 
cated. The  honor  and  authority  of  the 
United  States  vindicated,  indeed,  by  a  law 
which  its  very  framers  admit  is,  from  its  very 
inception,  a  dead  letter  !  Nobody  here  now 
dare  stand  up  and  pledge  his  party  to  enforce 
this  law.  I  challenge  any  man  of  any  party 
to  do  that.  I  claim  that  i  t  is  a  sham  ab  initio  ; 
that  it  is  a  false  pretence ;  and  I  never  will 
vote  for  a  sham  or  a  false  pretence,  by  what- 
ever man  or  whatever  party  it  may  be  brought 
into  this  House.  I  do  not  deal  in  such  things, 
sir,  especially  upon  practical  questions  like 
this  now  before  us.  The  reasons  that  I  have 
given  are  sufficient  to  govern  my  vote  upon 
this  bill,  and  that  vote  will  be  against  it ;  that, 
as  an  expression  of  the  moral  sense  of  the 
country,  it  is  superfluous ;  that  as  a  penal 
statute,  it  is  powerless;  that,  as  a  vindication 
of  the  honor  and  authority  of  this  Govern- 
ment, it  is  worse  than  futile ;  for  it  would 
bring  both  the  honor  and  authority  of  the 
Government  into  ridicule  and  contempt. 

Now,  sir,  if  these  are  facts,  and  if  that  is 
the  prospect  before  us,  should  this  bill  be  ele- 
vated to  the  dignity  of  a  law  by  our  votes  ? 


Moral  reformations  should  never  be  attempted 
by  law,  which  can  be  accomplished  without 
the  aid  of  law.  This  would  be  true,  even 
were  the  law  proposed  sure  to  effect  the  con- 
;  templated  object,  even  if  it  were  a  law  made 
'  and  enforced  by  the  political  community 
where  the  offence  existed.  What  excuse, 
then,  can  gentlemen  give  for  a  law  like  this, 
sure  not  to  accomplish  the  object  contem- 
plated, made  by  a  non-resident  power,  and 
intended  never  to  be  enforced  ? 

Now,  Mr  Speaker,  let  us  inquire  whether 

some  act  cannot  be  done  which  shall  prove  a 

perpetual  and  insurmountable  barrier  to  the 

progress  of  this  gigantic  monstrosity.     I  am 

happy  to  be  able  to  say  that  I  believe  that  a 

solution  —  a  peaceful,  quiet,    easy,   natural, 

and  practical  solution  —  of  this  question  is 

now  within  our  reach.     I  am  happy  in  the 

•  belief  that  the   gold  mines  of  Pike's  Peak 

!  and  the  silver  mines  of  Carson  Valley  do  now 

furnish  us  a  solution  of  this   vexed  question 

i  of  polygamy.     I  have  therefore  proposed  an 

'  amendment  to  this  bill,  that  the  Territory  of 

j  Utah,  together  with  a  part  of  Kansas  and 

i  Nebraska,  shall  be  divided  into  two  land  dis- 

;  tricts,  in  such  a  way  that  the  Mormon  people 

shall  be  divided  nearly  eoually  between  the 

two. 

Now,  sir,  what  are  the  facts  about  popula- 
tion ?  I  come  now  to  an  argument  which  ad- 
dresses itself  directly  to  the  judgment  of  the 
House,  —  an  argument  not  of  theories,  but  of 
facts.  The  Mormons,  by  the  best  intelligence, 
by  the  highest  authority  I  can  get,  are  to-day 
about  forty  thousand  people.  I  have  it  from 
!  officers  of  the  United  States  army  who  have 
'  been  in  Utah  during  the  last  two  years,  and 
they  assure  me  that  not  more  than  one-seventh 
of  this  population  of  Mormons  are  voters. 
What  are  the  facts  in  relation  to  the  popula- 
tion of  the  two  proposed  land  districts  ?  I 
have  the  opinion  of  the  Delegates  from  Jef- 
ferson, Kansas,  and  Nebraska,  and  numerous 
'  others,  that  there  are  now  within  the  limits 
1  of  the  proposed  land  district  of  Jefferson  forty 
i  thousand  men,  and  that  there  are  at  least  in 
that  district  twenty  thousand  voters;  and  we 
have  it  from  papers  last  received  from  Cali- 
fornia, that  there  are  now  in  Carson  Valley 
at  least  thirty  thousand  men,  and  not  less  than 
fifteen  thousand  voters.  I  believe  there  has 
been  a  rapidity  of  increase  of  population  in 
these  districts  which  has  no  parallel  in  the 
history  of  this  country ;  not  even  in  the  case 


43 


of  California.  Why,  sir,  at  the  rate  of  increase 
now  going  on,  it  is  confidently  expected  that 
at  the  next  session  of  Congress  these  people 
will  come  here  with  the  right  to  be  admitted 
as  sovereign  States.  Then,  sir,  you  may  de- 
feat the  policy  of  these  Mormons  at  once,  by 
erecting  these  land  districts,  which  have  al- 
ready more  than  five  times  the  voters  of  the 
Mormon  population,  and  which  population  is 
rapidly  increasing,  while  the  number  of  Mor- 
mon voters  is  diminishing.  With  this  pros- 
pect before  us,  is  there  any  risk  that  Mormon- 
ism  will  not  be  exterminated  by  local  law, 
provided  we  pass  this  amendment,  constitut- 
ing the  land  districts  proposed  ?  Would  not 
a  local  law  be  much  better  to  accomplish  the 
purpose  than  a  law  made  by  a  non-resident 
power  ?  I  contend  that  the  law  of  a  non-resi- 
dent power  is  only  fit  to  be  laughed  at  and 
despised.  The  true  authority,  in  my  judg- 
ment, and  the  only  authority  worthy  of  being 
regarded,  is  the  law  that  is  made,  approved, 
and  enforced,  by  the  people  where  it  is  law.  j 
That  local  law  is  what  Mormonism,  polyga-  \ 
my,  or  any  other  crime,  cannot  evade.  This 
non-resident  law  may  do  very  well  as  capital 
for  politicians  ;  it  may  do  for  political  preten- 
ces and  shams;  but  it  never  will  do  for  prac- 
tice. I  am  not  disposed  to  spend  any  time 
now  in  showing  this  House  the  inextricable  I 
difficulties  and  complications  this  precedent  j 
would  lead  us  into  if  adopted.  There  is  no 
end  of  them. 

Do  gentlemen  propose  that  Congress  shall  j 
follow  up  this  mode  of  reforming  all  abuses  j 
that  may  occur  upon  the  public  lands  of  the 
United  States?  Shall  we  make  laws  against 
drunkenness,  and  profanity,  and  Sabbath- 
breaking,  and  larceny,  —  in  short,  shall  we 
make  a  complete  criminal  code  for  our  public 
lands,  and  establish  a  police  and  judicial  force 
Sufficient  -o  arrest  and  convict  and  punish  all 
offenders  on  this  immense  area  ?  If  this  is  to 
be  our  policy,  then  this  bill  proposes  a  good 
beginning.  We  shall  probably  have  enough 
to  do  for  some  time  to  come,  without  attend- 
ing at  all  to  the  legitimate  purposes  of  the 
Government.  Local  law  is  the  true  remedy 
for  these  evils.  The  operation  of  such  law, 
as  contemplated  in  my  amendment,  will  be 
sufficient  for  the  speedy  abolishment  of  oo- 
lygamy. 

Is  it  to  be  supposed  that  one  hundred  thou- 
sand miners  at  Pike's  Peak,  and  the  same 
number  of  miners  at  Carson  Valley,  without 


any  women  at  all,  will  allow  a  monopoly  of 
women  at  Salt  Lake  ?  [Laughter.]  Sir,  I  do 
not  agree  with  gentlemen  who  denounce  these 
men  in  the  Territories,  these  hardy  pioneers, 
as  men  of  no  education,  as  men  of  no  refine- 
ment, as  men  destitute  of  intelligence  and 
moral  power.  I  have  never  called  them 
"  runaways  and  outlaws."  They  are  men  of 
more  vigor  of  body  and  of  mind,  of  more 
heroism  and  enterprise,  of  more  power  of  en- 
durance, of  more  persistency,  and  of  more 
character,  than  the  people  of  the  old  States. 
They  are  also  superior  in  intelligence  to  the 
average  of  the  people  in  the  old  States.  I 
doubt  not,  sir,  that  there  are  some  educated 
men  in  Carson  Valley,  and  some  educated 
men  in  Pike's  Peak ;  some  who  have  read 
history,  and  some  of  them  may  have  read 
Roman  history.  [Laughter.] 

I  feel  perfectly  secure,  then,  in  the  position 
that  Mormonism  and  polygamy,  and  all  things 
connected  therewith,  should  be  left  to  the 
local  laws  of  the  two  land  districts  which  I 
propose,  by  the  action  of  Congress,  to  estab- 
lish. Now,  sir,  is  it  safe  to  leave  polygamy 
to  the  cure  of  a  democracy  ?  Is  is  safe  to 
leave  it  to  a  republican  form  of  government, 
made  by  the  people  themselves,  in  these  two 
land  districts  ?  Every  man  acquainted  with 
the  history  of  the  world  knows  that  polygamy 
never  has  existed  under  a  democratic  or  re- 
publican form  of  government.  Every  man 
who  knows  any  thing,  even  without  reading 
history,  Avould  decide  beforehand  that  it  never 
could  exist  under  such  a  form  of  government 
while  the  sexes  continue  to  be  equal  in  num- 
bers. Wherever  it  has  existed,  —  in  Turkey, 
in  Arabia,  among  the  chiefs  of  Central  Africa, 
or  among  the  aborigines  of  America,  —  it  has 
always  been  protected  by  absolute  military 
despotism.  It  can  be  sustained  under  no  other 
system  of  government. 

Then  I  hold  that  the  argument  is  conclu- 
sive, that,  by  subjecting  polygamy  to  the  ac- 
tion of  the  democracy  of  these  two  land  dis- 
tricts, it  would  most  effectually  put  an  end  to 
it.  This  is  one  reason  why  I  shall  vote  for  the 
amendment  to  the  bill  as  I  have  proposed  it. 

But  it  may  be  inquired,  why  we  do  not  or- 
ganize the  Territories  of  Jefferson  and  Neva- 
da, instead  of  simply  constituting  them  land 
districts ;  why  we  do  not  pass  an  organic  act. 
Now,  sir,  I  am  going  to  give  my  own  views 
upon  this  subject ;  and  I  am  going  to  say,  for 
the  amendment  which  I  have  proposed,  that 


44 

it  neither  affirms  nor  denies  the  power  of ;  the  citizens  of  Maine  and  Connecticut,  of 
Congress  to  legislate  for  the  Territories.  But  Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  and  the  other 
•while  pursuing  that  course,  I  still  hold  my  States,  insult  their  equals  in  the  Territories 
own  views  upon  the  subject ;  and  if  inquired  by  the  favor  of  granting  them  permission, 
of  why  I  would  not  vote  for  a  Territorial  or-  i  through  Congress,  to  govern  themselves  ?  Is 
ganization,  my  answer  is  ready ;  that  I  am  I  a  man  who  was  a  citizen  of  Iowa  yesterday, 
opposed  to  the  whole  policy  of  organizing  j  and  is  to-da^-  an  inhabitant  of  Nebraska,  less 


Territories  by  this  Federal  Government.  I 
say  here  and  now,  that  I  will  never  vote, — 
as  I  believe  I  have  never  voted  in  the  past, — 


than  the  equal  of  him  who  remains  a  citizen 
and  inhabitant  of  Iowa?  How  and  why  is 
his  right  of  self-government  impaired  ~J.  Xo 


to  organize  any  Territory  under  this  Govern-  j  man  can  tell.  If,  then,  he  is  the  equal  of  any 
ment ;  neither  would  I  acquire  another  foot :  citizen  of  the  States,  it  must  be  conceded  that 
of  land  to  be  governed  by  the  Congress  of  the  i  there  is  no  occasion  for  the  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  or  to  be  sold  by  the  authority  j  States  to  graciously  grant  him  equality  of 
of  this  Government.  The  purposes  of  this  right. 


Government  are  few  and  simple,  as  has  been 
before  said  in  this  Hall.  It  is  no  part  of  the 
purpose  for  which  this  Government  was  or- 
ganized, to  exercise  non-resident  jurisdiction, 
or  traffic  in  real  estate ;  and  therefore  I  am 
for  getting  rid  of  the  nuisance,  and  of  confin- 
ing the  Government  to  its  legitimate  purposes 
as  soon  as  we  can  possibly  do  it.  Therefore, 
again,  I  am  opposed  to  the  organization  of 


No,  sir ;  to  grant  permission  to  a  Territory 
to  make  its  own  laws,  implies  authority  which 
never  rightfully  existed  in  Congress.  It  im- 
plies the  same  authority  as  to  command  or  to 
withhold  permission.  I  will  never  vote  such 
an  insult  to  my  fellow-citizens  in  a  Territory. 
They  are  my  equals  in  every  right  under  this 
Government,  and  have  just  as  good  reason 
and  authority  to  grant  permission  to  their 


any  more  Territories,  and  of  inaugurating  fellow-citizens  in  the  States  to  govern  them- 
again  the  old  policy  of  the  Government,  which  selves,  as  we  in  the  States  have  to  grant  this 
has  led  to  all  the  sectional  quarrels  which  permission  by  act  of  Congress  to  them. 


have  existed,  and  now  exist,  between  the 
States  of  the  Union.  I  tell  you  we  cannot 
afford  to  spend  the  time  of  this  nation  quar- 
relling about  these  provinces,  which  the  Con- 
stitution does  not  know.  The  Constitution 
knows  nothing  less  than  a  State ;  and  why 
should  we  be  forever  quarrelling  about  Ter- 
ritories ?  Sir,  I  am  so  much  a  popular  sov- 
ereignty man,  that  I  deny  that  Congress  can, 
by  an  organic  act,  bestow  sovereignty  upon 
the  people  of  a  Territory. 

Mr.  SMITH,  of  Virginia.  Let  me  ask  the 
gentleman  a  question.  The  gentleman  says 
that  the  Constitution  does  not  recognize  any 
thing  else  than  a  State.  Then,  what  does  he 
think  of  that  clause  of  the  Constitution  which 
gives  to  Congress  the  power  to  dispose  of  the 


Mr.  SMITH,  of  Virginia.  I  want  to  ask  an- 
other question.  If  Congress  has  no  power 
over  the  Territory  of  the  United  States,  ex- 
cept as  property,  —  not  as  a  political  commu- 
nity, —  then  Congress  has  no  power  over  the 
people  of  a  Territory. 

Mr.  THAYER.  Exactly,  sir.  It  may  be 
that,  under  the  construction  of  the  Consti- 
tution which  has  obtained,  Congress  would 
really  be  decided  to  have  the  same  right  to 
govern  the  people  that  George  III.  had  to 
govern  these  colonies.  I  deny  that  it  has  now 
or  ever  had  any  moral  right  to  govern  Amer- 
ican citizens  in  the  Territories.  To  be  ex- 
plicit: if  Congress  has  that  right,  where  did 
it  get  it  ?  Congress  is  the  servant  and  not 
the  king  of  the  people.  The  people,  Mr. 


Territory  and  other  property  of  the  United    Speaker,  in  this  country,  are  king.     There  is 
States  ?  no  other.     Xobody  else  has  the  attribute  of 


Mr.  THAYER.  I  ought  to  have  said,  as  a 
political  community.  The  Constitution  speaks 
of  territory  as  property,  as  land ;  but,  sir,  as 


sovereignty.  If  Congress  can  dispense  sov- 
ereignty,  certainly  Congress  has  either  ac- 
quired that  sovereignty  or  has  created  it.  Xo- 


a  political  community  it  knows  nothing  less  ,  body  believes  that  Congress  creates   sover- 


than  a  State.  As  a  member  of  Congress,  I 
would  not  be  wiser  than  the  Constitution.  I 
am  opposed  even  to  granting  permission  to 
any  Territory  to  make  any  laws,  or  to  manage 


cignty.  If  Congress  acquired  it,  then  when, 
and  where  did  it  acquire  it  ?  Even  the 
Church  of  Rome,  absolute  as  is  her  authority, 
professes  to  give  a  reason  for  what  she  has 


its  own  affairs  in  its  own  way.     Why  should  j  and  what  she  dispenses.     When  that  church 


45 


sells  indulgences,  she  declares  that  she  only 
sells  the  superabundant  merit  of  the  saints, 
so  that  men  that  are  not  as  good  as  they  ought 
to  be,  may  have  their  deficiencies  made  up  by 
men  who  are  better  than  they  need  to  be. 
[Laughter.]  I  would  like  to  know  where 
this  superabundant  sovereignty  comes  from, 
that  Congress  can  dispense  it.  Only  think 
what  a  reservoir  of  sovereignty  this  Congress 
must  be,  which  has  dispensed  or  pretends  to 
have  dispensed  sovereignty  to  twenty  sover- 
eign States  since  the  formation  of  this  gov- 
ernment, and  has  never  had  any  sovereignty 
itself,  except  what  it  must  have  acquired  from 
the  sovereign  people  of  this  country.  The 
fact  is,  Congress  has  never  bestowed  sover- 
eignty upon  one  of  them.  It  has  only  relin- 
quished the  sovereignty  which  it  has  usurped 
and  withheld. 

No,  sir,  this  thing  is  a  mistake.  It  is  worse, 
—  it  is  a  fiction ;  it  is  a  fallacy.  The  gentle- 
man from  Alabama  [Mr.  Curry],  the  other 
day,  wondered  by  what  hocus-pocus,  by  what 
legerdemain,  that  which  is  to-day  public  land 
becomes  to-morrow  a  sovereignty.  Public 
land  does  not  become  a  sovereignty.  Land 
never  becomes  a  sovereignty.  Men  are  the 
sovereigns. 

If  there  is  unoccupied  public  land  to-day, 
and  to-morrow  there  is  a  sovereignty  upon  it, 
I  assure  you  that  somebody  has  gone  there — 
some  citizen,  who  is  himself  so  much  above 
property  that  he  alone  is  of  more  importance 
than  all  the  public  land  that  this  Government 
ever  did  or  ever  will  possess.  He,  sir,  is  the 
sovereign ;  arid  you  disrobe  him  of  his  sov- 
ereignty because  he  has  crossed  a  line  and 
gone  into  a  Territory.  By  what  power,  by 
what  law,  Congress  being  his  servant  —  by 
what  law  can  it  be  done  ?  By  just  as  good 
authority  your  coachman,  sir,  might  put  on 
your  coat  and  hat,  and  command  you  to  gel 
upon  the  box  and  take  the  whip  in  hand 
while  he  takes  a  seat  inside  the  carriage. 

But,  sir,  if  the  possession  of  land  confers 
sovereignty,  and  if  the  sale  of  land  implies 
the  power  to  govern,  I  would  like  to  know 
whether  the  selling  of  the  products  of  the 
land  does  not  give  the  right  to  govern  the 
buyers?  I  would  like  to  know  whether 
the  doctrine  that  the  party,  whether  the 
government  or  an  individual,  who  sells  land 
thereby  acquires  the  right  to  govern  the  pur- 
chasers of  the  land,  is  any  more  ridiculous 
than  the  assumption  that  the  grain  dealer 


who  sells  corn,  the  product  of  the  land,  there- 
jy  acquires  the  right  to  govern  his  custom- 
ers ? 

Such  a  grain  dealer  as  this  was  Pharaoh, 
>vho  bought  his  people  with  corn.  When  the 
years  of  famine  had  rendered  the  land  un- 
productive, and  therefore  worthless,  the  basis 
of  absolute  sovereignty  was  changed  from 
and  to  the  products  of  the  land.  Sover- 
,'ignty  just  as  much  attaches,  and  with  just 
as  good  right,  to  the  one  as  to  the  other. 
The  assumption  that  it  belongs  to  either,  or 
to  the  owner  of  either,  on  account  of  posses- 
sion, or  of  sale,  is  simple  ridiculous. 

Land  is  nothing  but  property.  The  fic- 
tion, that  the  possession  of  land  gives  sover- 
ignty,  and  the  right  to  govern  people  who 
are  upon  it,  is  a  part  of  the  old  feudel  sys- 
tem. We  have  everywhere  connected  with 
the  fibers  of  this  government  some  of  the 
relics  of  ancient  tyranny.  When  William 
the  Conqueror  invaded  and  subdued  Eng- 
land, he  proclaimed  that  the  fee  of  all  the 
land  on  the  island  was  in  himself,  and  he  par- 
celled it  out  among  his  retainers.  Holding 
possession  of  the  land,  he  then  proclaimed 
that  all  the  men  who  lived  upon  it  were  his 
slaves.  And  from  the  old  feudal  system  we 
derive  this  ancient,  this  fallacious  idea,  that 
the  possession  of  land  by  this  government 
gives  it  the  power  to  govern  anybody  who 
shall  buy  the  land.  I  have  no  sympathy 
with  any  such  thing.  I  detest  it  now,  and  I 
shall  detest  it  always,  and  use  my  influence 
against  it. 

Mr.  Speaker,  while  I  advocate  these  views, 
the  amendment  I  propose  commits  no  man 
who  may  vote  for  it  to  them ;  for  that  amend- 
ment neither  affirms  nor  denies  the  power  of 
Congress  to  legislate  hereafter  for  these  land 
districts  which  are  thereby  constituted.  I 
hope  I  have  succeeded  in  showing  that  the 
bill  which  is  proposed  will  not  accomplish  the 
purpose  which  it  professes  to  have  in  view. 
I  hope  I  have  succeeded  in  showing  that  we 
are  able,  by  a  natural  and  effective  method, 
to  accomplish  these  results.  I  might  have 
spoken  of  the  complications  which  this  terri- 
torial policy  is  ever  imposing  upon  the  gov- 
ernment, and  of  the  dangerous  consolidation 
of  power  to  which  these  complications  inevit- 
ably lead.  A  Republic  never  can  successful- 
ly govern  provinces.  Whenever  it  has  at- 
tempted to  do  it,  the  history  of  the  world  has 
shown  that  it  has  not  only  failed,  but  it  has 


46 

been  overthrown  by  that  policy.     The  pol-    also  to  those  of  the  gentleman  from  Iowa 


icy  of  acquiring  and  of  governing  provinces 
creates  a  necessity  for  an  army  and  a  navy. 
It  is  to  make  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  a  king; 
and  I  am,  therefore,  for  abolishing  this  policy 
as  soon  as  may  be. 

You  remember,  sir,  that  it  -was  upon  this 
very  mission  of  acquiring  and  governing 
provinces, 


that  Julius    Cajsar   had   been  in 


Gaul,  when  returning,  he  crossed  the  Rubi- 
con with  his  army,  and  overthrew  the  liber- 
ties of  his  country. 

Similar  to  that  has  been  the  history  of 
every  Republic  which  has  attempted  to  ex- 
ercise non-resident  jurisdiction — that  has  at- 
tempted to  acquire  and  govern  provincial  de- 
pendencies. While  I  am  willing  to  annex  sov- 
ereignties at  the  right  time,  I  protest  against 
the  acquisition  of  territory,  to  be  governed  or 
sold  by  Congress.  I  am  for  simplifying  the 
operations  of  the  government  in  respect  to  the 
Territories.  We  have  the  land  to  sell.  Let 
us  provide  for  selling  it;  but  beyond  that 
I  would  not  recommend  action.  Let  the 
people  take  care  of  themselves.  They  are 
the  sovereigns.  Congress  is  their  servant. 


A  bill  had  been  introduced  into  the  House 
for  the  organization  of  new  Territories,  upon 
which  speeches  were  made,  with  others,  by 
Mr.  Gooch  of  Mass.,  and  Mr.  Curtis  of  Iowa. 
These  gentlemen  were  advocates  of  the  old 
method  of  organization,  with  its  executive 
appointments,  its  Indian  wars,  and  its  endless 
disputes  in  Congress  over  the  control  of  the 
inhabitants.  It  afforded  Mr.  Thayer,  there- 
fore, an  excellent  opportunity  to  present  his 
statement  of  the  only  practical  way  in  which 
Territorial  affairs  are  hereafter  to  be  disposed 
of,  which  he  improved  to  the  utmost,  in  a 
speech  delivered  on  the  llth  of  May.  lie 
takes  broad  ground,  in  this  speech,  for  the 
people  themselves,  and  for  the  supremacy 
of  free  labor:  believing  that  population 
and  not  politicians,  will  hereafter  settle  all 
disputes  of  a  local  character,  which  have 
become,  by  Congressional  interference,  the 
greatest  national  nuisances  that  afflict  us. 
This  speech  abounds  with  irony,  humor,  and 
wit,  and  its  main  positions  are  very  strongly 
taken.  It  is  as  follows  :  — 

Mu.  SPEAKER  :  I  have  listened  with  great 


[Mr.  Curtis].  They  have  manifested  suitable 
ingenuity  in  the  discussion  of  this  question  ; 
for,  sir,  it  is  the  work  of  giants  to  prove  to 
the  people  of  this  country  that  they  have  not 
a  right  to  govern  themselves,  and  that  Con- 
gress has  a  right  to  govern  them.  That  is  a 
work  that  can  be  done  only  by  giants.  It  is 
easy  for  ordinary  men,  for  common  men,  to 
show  to  the  people  of  this  country  that  they 
have  the  right  to  govern  themselves,  and  that 
they  are  abundantly  prepared  to  exercise 
that  right.  In  the  early  history  of  this  Gov- 
ernment, we  had  the  Providence  Plantations, 
the  Plymouth  colony,  and  the  Connecticut 
colony,  which  drummed  out  a  Governor 
forced  upon  them  by  a  non-resident  power, 
and  thereby  secured  to  that  State  an  inde- 
structible possession — the  proud  history  of  the 
charter  oak.  Those  men  from  the  old  coun- 
try formed  upon  our  soil  model  governments, 
and  they  did  it  without  ever  having  had  the 
experience  afforded  by  the  exercise  of  self- 
government. 

But,  sir,  it  is  contended  that  we,  who  have 
always  governed  ourselves,  when  we  go  to  a 
Territory  of  the  United  States  are  unable  to 
tell  our  hands  from  our  feet.  It  is  contended 
that  a  man  not  only  loses  his  rights,  but  loses 
his  common  sense,  by  going  to  a  Territory. 

The  gentleman  from  Iowa 

Mr.  CURTIS.     Mr.  Speaker 

Mr.  TIIAYER.  I  will  allow  no  interruption. 
The  gentleman  from  Iowa  refused  to  let  me 
ask  him  a  question.  I  remember  that. 

Mr.  CURTIS.  I  certainly  did  not,  or,  at 
least,  I  did  not  intend  it. 


Mr.  THAYER. 
I  have  the  floor. 
Mr.  CURTIS. 


I  shall  not  be  interrupted. 

I  did  not  hear  the  gentle- 
man, if  he  asked  me  any  question. 

Mr.  THAYER.  I  was  not  astonished  at  the 
surprise  which  my  colleague  manifested,  that 
I  had  taken  the  lead  in  this  business  of  killing 
off  these  Territorial  organizations,  which  go 
upon  the  assumption  that  the  people  of  a 
Territory  are  infants.  Therefore,  I  could 
understand  the  grief  which  he  and  the  gen- 
tleman from  Iowa  must  have  felt  when  they 
saw  that  this  leading  and  this  voting  was  suc- 
cessful in  the  accomplishment  of  that  result. 
Rachel  mourned  for  her  first-born,  and  would 
not  be  comforted.  This  day's  slaughter  of 
the  innocents  is,  no  doubt,  an  appropriate 


interest  to  the  remarks  of  my  colleague,  and  i  cause  and  occasion  of  grief. 


47 


Sir,  grief  may  have  a  salutary  influence 
upon  men.  The  efforts  of  ingenuity  and  of 
invention  may  quicken  their  intellects.  I  am 
glad  to  see  gentlemen  striving  for  arguments 
that  do  not  exist,  and  can  never  be  found, 
showing  why  Congress  shall  make  an  organic 
law  for  the  people  of  the  Territories,  who 
are  a  thousand  times  better  able  than  Con- 
gress to  understand  their  wishes  and  necessi- 
ties. There  was  need,  sir,  in  this  work,  of 
quick  and  ready  invention,  of  nervous  strug- 
gling for  expedients.  We  have  witnessed  all 
that  this  day — 

"All  the  soul  in  rapt  suspension  ; 
AH  the  quivering,  palpitating 
Chords  of  life  in  utmost  tension 
With  the  fervor  of  invention, 
With  the  rapture  of  creating." 

I  said,  grief  itself  may  be  salutary ;  and 
•when  these  gentlemen  see  that  they  are  in 
the  minority,  and  that  we  Avho  oppose  their 
favorite  measures  are  a  majority  in  this  House, 
I  sympathize  with  them.  I  know  something 
about  the  effect  of  defeat ;  and  I  say  it,  for 
their  consolation,  that  I  think  it  may  be  good. 
Sir,  I  have  known  something  of  the  feeling 
of  men  who  have  experienced  defeat;  this 
feeling  of  distrust  of  the  power  of  Providence 
to  carry  forward  a  good  cause,  this  loss  of 
faith  in  men,  this  ruinous  and  apparently 
crushing  despair,  may,  sometimes,  work  great 
good.  The  pearl  is  only  the  crystallized  tear 
of  the  oyster. 

Mr.  Goocn  rose. 

Mr.  TIIAYER.     I  will  not  be  interrupted. 

Mr.  GOOCH.  I  say  to  my  colleague,  that 
I  allowed  him  to  interrupt  me  frequently  dur- 
ing my  remarks  on  the  polygamy  bill,  a  few 
days  ago ;  and  yet  he  is  not  willing  to  give 
me  the  same  privilege. 

Mr.  TIIAYER.  If  my  colleague  wishes  to 
interrupt  me,  I  will  allow  him  to  do  any  thing 
he  chooses.  [Laughter.] 

Mr.  Goocir.  I  thought  my  colleague  would 
not  be  as  unjust  as  he  intimated.  I  must  ex- 
press some  surprise  at  the  reference  my  col- 
league has  made.  If  he  had  looked  up  his 
quotations  to  express  surprise,  instead  of 
grief,  it  would  have  been  more  to  the  pur- 
pose. I  expressed  no  grief.  I  simply  ex- 
pressed surprise. 

Mr.  THAYER.  I  have  not  looked  up  any 
quotations.  I  happen  generally  to  know 
what  is  appropriate,  without  looking  them 
up.  [Laughter.] 


Now,  Mr.  Speaker,  let  me  say  further  to 
my  colleague,  whose  grief  and  surprise  I  trust 
may  be  for  his  spiritual  and  eternal  good,  that 
I  will  give  him  another  quotation  to  the  same 
point  : 

"  Such  a  fate  as  this  was  Dante's  — 
By  defeat  and  exile  maddened; 
Thus  were  Milton  and  Cervantes, 
Nature's  priests,  and  Corvbantes, 
By  affliction  touched  ana  saddened." 

And  again : 

"  Only  those  are  crowned  and  sainted, 
Who  with  grief  have  been  acquainted." 

Now,  sir,  let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the 
arguments  which  have  been  sought  after  to 
show  that  Congress  should  organize  Terri- 
torial governments.  I  will  now  leave  the 
region  of  the  sensibilities,  and  visit,  for  a  time, 
the  domain  of  the  intellect — a  movement  from 
what  is  sublime  in  feeling  in  my  opponents, 
to  what  is  ridiculous  in  reason.  I  understand, 
Mr.  Speaker,  that  those  arguments  have  all 
been  made  on  a  proposition  to  organize  a 
Territory  which  has  no  white  men  in  it. 
There  is  not  a  member  of  the  Committee  on 
Territories  who  has  spoken,  or  who  will  rise 
and  say  that  there  are  three  hundred  white 
men  in  the  Territory  of  Chippewa. 

Mr.  GROW.     Oh,  yes,  there  are. 

Mr.  ALDRICH.  If  the  gentleman  will  go 
there,  he  will  find  a  good  many  more  than 
three  hundred  white  men  there.  The  gen- 
tleman lives  so  far  off,  it  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered at  that  he  should  make  such  a  state- 
ment. 

Mr.  THAYER.  I  had  it  from  the  contest- 
ing Delegate  from  Nebraska. 

Mr.  CLARK  of  Missouri.  I  desire  to  ask 
the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Territories 
if  there  has  been  any  petition  signed  by  any 
man  within  the  limits  of  Chippewa  Territory, 
in  favor  of  an  organization  of  that  Territory; 
and  what  evidence  they  have  that  there  are 
even  one  hundred  and  eighty  white  men  with- 
in its  limits  ? 

Mr.  SMITH  of  Virginia.  I  do  not  believe 
:  there  is  one  white  man  there. 

Mr.  GROW.  I  should  like  to  ask  the  gcn- 
!  tleman  from  Missouri  what  petitions  there 
j  were  from  Kansas  and  Nebraska  at  the  tune 
|  those  Territories  were  organized  V 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  Oh,  that  is  no  argument ! 
One  wrong  does  not  justify  another. 

Mr.  TIIAYEU.  Now,  let  me  make  one  re- 
mark to  the  gentleman  from  Iowa,  who  ap- 


48 


pealed  to  this  House,  to  afford  protection  to 
these  infants  in  the  Territories 

Mr.  CURTIS.  I  hope  the  gentleman  -will 
allow  me  to  correct  his  statement. 

Mr.  THAYER.  The  gentleman  did  not  al- 
low me. 

Mr.  CURTIS.  I  certainly  did  not  refuse  to 
allow  the  gentleman  to  interrupt  me,  to  cor- 
rect any  thing  I  might  have  said.  It' the  gen- 
tleman appealed  to  me,  and  I  did  not  yield 
to  him,  it  was  because  I  did  not  hear  him, 
and  not  from  any  want  of  courtesy.  Now, 
sir,  I  protest  that  I  never  spoke  of  the  people 
of  the  Territories  as  infants.  I  spoke  of 
them  as  men ;  and  if  I  used  the  word  "  in- 
fant" in  that  connection,  it  was  to  character- 
ize the  Territories  as  infant  empires. 

Mr.  THAYER.  I  was  not  talking  of  the 
gentleman's  orthography  or  etymology.  I  was 
talking  about  his  speech. 

Mr.  CURTIS.  I  used  no  expression  of  the 
kind. 

Mr.  THAYER.  I  was  not  quoting  the  gen- 
tleman in  words ;  I  was  talking  about  his  ar- 
gument, which  was  to  show  that  the  people 
of  the  Territories  were  wholly  unable  to  take 
care  of  themselves,  and  that  they  must  be 
afforded  protection  by  the  General  Govern- 
ment. What  do  they  want  with  our  protec- 
tion V  And  if  they  do  want  it,  what  protec- 
tion would  they  get  except  a  government  of 
broken-down  politicians,  which  the  President 
of  the  United  States  would  send  them  ?  They 
have  King  Log  now ;  they  would  have  King 
Stork  then.  Is  a  Governor  a  ten-horse  power 
to  protect  the  people  ?  So  far  from  that,  sir, 
he  is  as  much  inferior  to  the  hardy  pioneer, 
in  strength  and  character,  as  Lombardy  pop- 
lar is  to  live  oak.  What  is  there  in  such  a 
Governor  ?  What  is  there  in  such  a  secre- 
tary ?  What  is  there  in  such  marshals? 
What  is  there  in  a  whole  force  of  Territorial 
officers  such  as  would  be  sent  there  to  pro- 
tect the  people  ?  Depend  upon  it,  if  they 
are  protected  at  all,  they  will  protect  them- 
selves; nobody  else  will  protect  them;  and 
besides  that,  they  must  protect  all  these  gov- 
ernment officials,  if  we  send  them.  I  ask, 
who  are  the  men  you  would  send  there  ? 
Men  whom  the  people  have  defeated  at  home. 
These  are  the  men  usually  sent  to  govern  the 
Territories ;  these  are  the  governmental  of- 
ficials, under  whatever  party  jurisdiction  ap- 
pointed ;  and  they  have  usually  been  worse 
to  the  people  of  the  Territories  than  the  frogs 


and  lice  to  the  people  of  Egypt.  [Laugh- 
ter.] 

But,  sir,  to  carry  the  illustration  further : 
Here  the  people  are  the  sovereigns ;  these 
nuisances  go  up  into  the  chambers  of  the 
kings.  Why  do  they  go  ?  To  fill  their  own 
pockets  with  the  gold  of  the  General  Gov- 
ernment; to  trade  with  the  Indians;  to  spec- 
ulate in  town  lots ;  and  often,  one  of  the 
methods  by  which  they  accomplish  their  ends 
is  by  stirring  up  Indian  Avars.  I  have  ap- 
pealed to  our  history  to  show  that  the  people 
can  govern  themselves,  and  I  might  as  well 
'  go  on  a  little  further  in  the  same  direction. 
It  does  happen  that  the  people  of  the  State 
of  Oregon  were,  during  the  first  ten  years 
of  their  history,  without  a  Territorial  Gov- 
ernment. Their  first  Governor,  Gen.  Lane, 
has  said  that  the  people  of  Oregon  had  not 
since  been  under  so  good  laws,  so  well  en- 
forced, as  they  made  for  themselves,  before 
the  time  when  their  Government  received 
the  sanction  of  Congress.  They  had  done 
every  thing  that  pertained  to  good  govern- 
ment. Still,  there  are  men  who  will  stand 
up  here  and  say,  that  without  a  Territorial 
organization  by  Congress,  the  people  would 
be  ruined. 

!Now,  sir,  I  tell  you  what  is  the  object  of 
these  Territorial  organizations.  It  is  to  make 
the  people  believe  that  nothing  on  this  con- 
tinent can  be  done  without  Congress.  It  is 
an  attempt  to  deify  the  politician  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  people ;  that  is  the  whole  of  it 
Sir,  do  you  think  that  this  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, that  this  Senate,  that  this  Presi- 
dent, is  the  motive  power  of  this  govern- 
ment V  If  you  do,  let  me  assure  you,  you 
know  but  little  about  it.  The  motive  power 
of  this  government  is  the  people — the  people 
at  home,  who  attend  to  their  own  business 
and  mind  their  own  matters —  ami  the  poli- 
ticians here,  who  pretend  that  they  them- 
selves are  the  motive  power,  are  insignificant 
in  comparison  with  the  fly  on  the  axletree, 
who  claimed  that  he  made  the  coach  move. 
[Laughter.]  That  is  the  fact.  Xow,  sir,  I 
am  tired  of  these  assumptions.  I  cannot  en- 
dure them.  I  contend  that  it  is  better  to 
leave  these  men  alone,  without  our  super- 
vision, until  their  faults  or  weaknesses  shall 
show  that  our  intervention  alone  can  be  their 
salvation. 

I  think,  now,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  I  have  vin- 
dicated the  power  of  the  people  to  govern 


49 


themselves.  I  have  shown  it  as  it  appears  in 
our  history.  These  people  of  Dakota  are  as 
•well  off  to-day  as  they  would  be  if  they  had 
our  Territorial  officials  over  them.  They 
have  now  no  Indian  wars.  The  Yanctons 
and  the  Sioux  are  all  quiet.  But  organize 
the  Territory,  and  send  out  your  executive 
officials  ;  and  then,  sir,  these  speculators  will 
greatly  desire  an  influx  of  government  gold. 
There  is  no  method  so  sure  and  so  conven- 
ient to  produce  that  result,  as  to  stir  up  an 
Indian  war.  It  will  be  done,  sir,  to  raise  the 
price  of  town  lots.  The  Yanctons  and  Sioux 
will  come  down  on  the  white  settlements,  and 
we  shall  soon  hear  of  the  terrible  inroads  of 
the  savages.  Then,  sir,  a  heart-rending  ap- 


myself.  You  will  remember,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  this  session  of  Congress,  that  assur- 
ances were  given  by  many  Republicans  here, 
that  this  question  of  slavery  should  not  be 
introduced  by  them  during  the  present  Con- 
gress. I,  sir,  was  one  of  the  Republicans- 
who  repeatedly  gave  that  assurance  to  men 
whose  votes  were  doubtful ;  and  had  it  not 
been  for  such  assurance,  you,  to-day,  Mr. 
Speaker,  would  not  be  occupying  the  posi- 
tion of  presiding  officer  of  this  House.  Sir, 
such  an  assurance  was  publicly  given  upon 
this  floor  by  the  Republican  candidate  for 
Speaker  [Mr.  Sherman],  and  that  assurance 
was  quoted  by  the  gentleman  from  Maryland 
[Mr.  Davis],  in  his  defence  against  the  reso- 


peal  for  protection.     Then,  sir,  a  regiment  of  lutions  of  the  Maryland  Legislature,  that  the 


soldiers  and  $1,000,000.  Then,  sir,  damages 
and  pensions  and  war  claims  to  the  end  of 
time.  They  are  better  off  to-day,  than  they 
can  be  with  these  government  speculators 
turned  loose  upon  them. 

Mr.  GOOCII.  I  wish  to  ask  my  colleague 
whether  he  recognizes  the  right  of  Congress 
to  interfere,  if  the  people  of  a  Territory 
should  frame  institutions  which,  in  its  opinion, 
were  improper,  and  not  in  accordance  with 
the  theory  and  spirit  of  this  government  V 

Mr.  THAYEK.  Our  fathers  had  a  gen- 
eral rule,  which  they  applied  very  frequently 
when  questions  were  asked  about  what  they 
would  do  in  certain  contingencies ;  and  that 
rule  was,  that  they  would  answer  any  such 
questions  when  they  should  arise  in  practice. 
That  is  a  very  good  rule  for  me  to  act  upon 
in  this  case. 

Mr.  GOOCII.  Does  not  my  colleague  con- 
sider that  such  a  question  may  have  arisen  in 
the  case  of  Utah,  and  perhaps  in  the  case  of 
New  Mexico  ? 

Mr.  THAYER.  No  case  has  yet  arisen  in 
practice.  No  evil  has  yet  been  consummated 
in  the  Territories,  which  the  people  there,  by 
their  own  local  laws,  are  not  abundantly  able 
to  remove. 

Now,  sir,  I  do  not  propose  to  have  any 
thing  to  say  concerning  the  negro  in  the  bills 
which  I  shall  offer  to  the  House.  I  am  per- 
fectly willing  that,  for  a  time  under  this  gov- 
ernment, the  negro  as  well  as  the  sovereignty 
of  Congress,  shall  be  held  in  abeyance.  Per- 
haps that  is  the  reason  why  some  gentlemen 
are  surprised,  and  why  they  grieve.  It  may 
be  that,  if  my  colleague  were  not  surprised 
at  me,  I  should  be  very  much  surprised  at 


Republicans  would  not  introduce  the  ques- 
tion of  slavery  into  this  House.  I  have  hon- 
estly observed  my  promise  in  reference  to 
the  assurance  which  I  gave  men  whose  votes 
were  doubtful  on  the  question  of  the  Speak- 
ership. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  do  not  propose,  in  the  or- 
ganization of  these  Territories,  to  agitate  the 
country  with  that  question.  There  is  no 
manner  of  need  of  it.  I  have  said  before 
that  the  interests  of  freedom  do  not  demand 
it.  I  say  now,  that  the  interests  of  slavery 
do  not  demand  it.  What  do  the  fanatics  in 
both  sections  of  this  country  want  ?  They 
know  that  the  whole  country  is  tired  of  the 
question.  If  the  whole  country  could  re- 
spond to-day  as  one  man,  they  would  say  so. 
Have  we  nothing  else  to  look  after  in  this 
country  but  the  slavery  question  ?  Is  there 
nothing  here  but  "  Northern  aggression  "  and 
"  Southern  aggression  ?  "  Are  all  the  glori- 
ous achievements  in  our  history  forgotten  ? 
Are  all  the  momentous  interests  of  our  pres- 
ent condition  of  no  importance?  But,  sir,. 
these  fanatics,  both  in  the  North  and  in  the 
South,  know  nothing,  see  nothing,  care  for 
nothing,  but  the  negro  question. 

Above  us  is  the  broad  expanse  of  heaven, , 
filled  with  glowing  constellations  ; 

"  In  reason's  ear  they  all  rejoice, 
And  utter  forth  a  glorious  voice." 

There  is  "  Arcturus  with  his  sons,"  and  Orion  • 
with  the  Pleiades  ;  but  we  have  a  set  of  one-- 
idea men  in  the  North,  who  can   see  nothing 
in  the  whole  canopy,  save  the  "  Twins,"  and, 
another  set  of  cognate  fanatics  in  the  South, 
who  can  see  nothing  but  the  u  Bear  circling 


50 


the  Pole."  Poor  men  !  They  sit  up  nights 
—  the  one  class  to  see  that  the  "  Bear"  does 
not  devour  the  "  Twins,"  and  the  other  class 
to  see  that  the  "  Twins  "  do  not  set  some  trap 
for  the  "  Bear ! "  A  fine  help  are  these 
haggard  night-watchers  to  the  great  Eternal ! 
Their  "  eternal  vigilance,"  no  doubt,  pre- 
vents a  collision  of  the  planets.  How  thank- 
ful we  should  be  that  such  self-sacrificing  he- 
roes still  live !  We  all  know  well  enough 
what  might  happen,  if  even  one  little  •world 
should  be  jostled  out  of  place. 

"  Let  bat  one  planet  from  its  orb  be  hurled, 
Planets  and  suns  rush  lawless  through  the 
world." 

There  was  one  man,  Newton,  who  compre- 
hended all  these  constellations  and  the  laws 
which  govern  them.  He  weighed  worlds.  He 
gave  to  mortals  the  grandest  law  of  the  phy- 
sical uni%rerse.  He  could  see  the  whole  ethe- 
real expanse,  and  contemplate  it,  and  scruti- 
nize its  movements,  and  almost  fathom  its 
mysteries.  But  Pope  says  of  that  Titanic  in- 
tellectual prodigy : 

"  Superior  beings,  when  of  late  they  saw 
A  mortal  man  unfold  all  nature's  law, 
Admired  such  wisdom  in  the  human  shape, 
And  showed  a  Newton  as  we  show  an  ape." 

If,  sir,  "superior  beings"  saw  a  Newton  as 
an  ape,  by  what  multiplication  of  microscopic 
power  could  they  see  at  all  a  little  dwarfed 
politician,  who  himself  can  see  but  one  con- 
stellation, or  at  most  two,  in  the  whole  handi- 
work of  Jehovah,  and  these  two  the  "  Bear  " 
and  the  "  Twins '!  "  [Great  laughter.] 

Let  me  say  to  the  gentlemen  from  the 
South  who  are  sensitive  on  this  question  of 
slavery,  that  a  subliiner  faith  would  become 
great  men.  Those  men  especially  who  say 
that  slavery  is  of  Divine  origin.  Why,  Mr. 
Speaker,  who  is  the  author  of  Divine  institu- 
tions ?  "  It  is  He  who  sitteth  upon  the  circuit 
of  the  heavens,  and  before  Him  all  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  earth  are  as  grasshoppers."  If, 
then,  he  has  established  certain  relations  be- 
tween grasshoppers  of  one  color  and  grass- 
hoppers of  another  color,  be  assured  those  re- 
lations will  stand  any  and  all  tests.  Who 
can  overthrow  them  ?  Can  the  North  ? 
£Great  laughter.]  Is  my  colleague  going  to 
doit?  I  think  not;  for  these  things  which 
lave  the  superintendence  and  approval  of 
Almighty  God  are  above  even  these  giants 
-who  contend  against  the  right  of  the  people 


to  govern  themselves.  The  Titans  even  could 
not  dethrone  Jupiter. 

The  appeal  is  made  to  us  from  every  reason 
of  philanthrophy,  from  every  sentiment  of 
pity,  that  those  "  poor  people  "  in  the  Terri- 
tories may  not  be  allowed  to  govern  them- 
selves, for  the  reason  that  they  cannot  pay 
their  own  expenses.  Well,  sir,  if  they  can- 
not do  it,  is  it  not  as  easy  for  us  to  appropri- 
ate money  to  govern  the  land  districts,  or  to 
aid  them  in  governing  themselves,  as  it  is  to 
appropriate  money  to  pay  the  officials  which 
the  Executive  may  send  out  ?  What  man  can 
doubt  that  ?  If  they  are  in  such  a  strait  as  to 
want  assistance  in  their  government,  who  is 
here  so  base  as  to  refuse  to  give  it.  There  is 
no  party  here,  there  has  been  no  party  in  this 
country,  but  what  would  listen  to  the  appeals 
of  these  people,  coming  with  this  plea  of  pov- 
erty that  they  were  unable  to  meet  the  legit- 
imate expenses  of  their  government ;  they 
would  have  an  appropriation  ;  and  one-half 
of  the  ordinary  appropriation  would  be  better 
for  them,  paid  to  their  own  citizens,  whom 
they  would  elect  to  these  offices,  than  the 
whole  appropriation  paid  to  Federal  officials, 
who  go  out  to  the  Territories  only  for  a  tem- 
porary residence,  and  who  return  with  the 
profits  of  their  proconsulship  to  settle  in  Fifth 
avenue,  or  .in  some  of  the  Eastern  cities. 
Under  this  mode  of  allowing  the  people  to 
govern  themselves,  they  will  select  their  own 
fellow-citizens,  residents  in  the  same  Terri- 
tory ;  and  these  officers  will  receive  their  sal- 
aries, not  to  be  transported  to  Eastern  cities 
to  be  spent  in  luxury ;  but,  sir,  to  be  used  in 
building  up  the  young  Territories,  and  the 
|  future  States  which  shall  be  made  within  her 
limits. 

Mr.  Speaker,  another  objection  of  my  col- 
league is,  that  there  can  be  no  law  except 
mob  law  among  these  people  in  the  Territo- 
ries. I  have  shown  that  in  our  earliest  colo- 
j  nies,  without  the  advantage  of  former  expe- 
rience in  self-government,  the  people  have 
!  made  models  of  government  for  themselves. 
I  have  shown  that  the  people  of  Oregon  have 
made  model  institutions  without  the  advice  or 
•  sanction  of  Congress.  My  colleague  says  that 
nothing  but  mob  law  can  exist,  except  where 
this  omniscient  Legislature  shall  show  the 
world  some  nobler  achievements.  Mob  law, 
made  by  infants,  and  I  suppose  carried  out  by 
infants  !  No,  sir ;  mob  law  made  by  sensible 
;  men,  your  equals  and  mine,  from  your  State 


51 


and  from  mine ;  every  one  of  them  abundantly 
able  to  draw  up  a  bill  of  rights  or  a  Consti- 
tution. And  these  are  the  men  who  know 
nothing  but  mob  law,  and  this  Congress 
should  exercise  its  all-wise  influence  to  re- 
strain them  from  self-destruction,  from  an- 
nihilation !  Is  it  possible,  sir,  that,  in  this  age 
of  the  world,  there  is  any  man  so  big  a  fool  as 
to  suppose  that  Anglo-Saxons  have  not  in 
themselves  the  elements  of  self-preservation? 
If  there  is,  sir,  he  ought  to  be  schooled  a  while 
longer  by  his  mother  and  by  his  nurse.  I 
contend,  sir,  that  Anglo-Saxons,  wherever 
yon  find  them,  have  the  elements  of  self-gov- 
ernment and  the  elements  of  self-preservation. 
Put  them  down  where  you  please,  in  small 
numbers  or  in  great  numbers,  familiar  friends 
or  strangers  to  eaeh  other,  and  they  will  in- 
stitute a  perfect  code  of  laws,  and  they  will 
enforce  them.  Personal  rights,  rights  of  prop- 
erty, all  rights,  will  be  protected  under  those 
laws. 

Now,  sir,  this  is  a  scheme  to  deify  politi- 
cians, and  that  is  why  it  is  fought  for.  What 
will  the  politicians  do,  these  men  ask,  when  it 
is  seen  all  over  the  country  that  the  people  can 
do  without  them,  and  without  their  supervi- 
sion and  parental  care  in  Congress  ?  "  Othel- 
lo's occupation  "  will  be  gone,  and  especially 
the  occupation  of  such  Othellos  as  have  their 
all  invested  in  Wilmot  Provisos  or  Congres- 
sional intervention  in  some  shape.  "What  can 
they  do  when  the  people  shall  have  said,  as 
they  will  say,  that  no  provisos  are  necessary, 
and  no  Congressional  intervention  consistent 
with  the  principles  and  policy  of  this  Govern- 
ment. I  take  the  stand  that  any  such  pro- 
viso or  any  such  intervention  is  in  direct  an- 
tagonism to  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
which  says  that  "  all  Governments  derive 
their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  gov- 
erned." Is  that  the  kind  of  government 
which  this  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
without  one  word  of  authority  from  the  peo- 
ple, imposes,  —  to  tell  them  how  they  shall 
act  and  what  they  shall  do  in  the  Territories? 
Do  you  claim,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  you  have  a 
right  to  say  that  a  man  in  Washington  Terri- 
tory, whose  wife  is  dead,  shall  not  have  the 
right  to  marry  his  former  wife's  sister  ?  Do 
you  pretend  to  say  at  what  time  they  shall 
dig  clams  in  Washington  Territory  ?  [Laugh- 
ter.] Who  pretends  to  say  that  it  is  the  busi- 
ness of  Congress  to  go  into  all  these  minutiaj ; 
to  direct  every  movement,  control  every  wish, 


shape  every  expression  of  the  will  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the  Territories  of  the  United  States  ? 
Whoever  pretends  to  say  so,  is  not  entitled  to 
lave  much  influence  among  American  citi- 
sens. 

Mr.  Goocn.  I  wish  merely  to  say  to  my 
L-olleague,  that  it  seems  to  me  he  is  fighting  a 
proposition  which  nobody  ever  did  assume. 
Nobody  has  assumed  such  a  proposition  here 
to-day,  as  that  Congress  could  do  any  thing  of 
that  kind  ;  but  merely  that  we  should  give  a 
helping  hand  to  the  people,  in  organizing 
their  local  government,  which  may  do  these 
things. 

Mr.  TIIA  YER.  I  perfectly  well  understand 
all  that.  It  is  to  give  a  helping  hand  to  the 
politicians,  not  to  the  people ;  that  is  what 
my  colleague  wants.  lie  is  afraid  I  will  lose 
my  place  in  this  House  for  not  lending  a 
helping  hand.  I  do  not  fear  any  such  thing, 
so  long  as  I  adhere  to  what  I  can  defend  by 
good  logic.  I  do  not  fear  to  go  before  the 
people  of  any  part  of  the  country  with  this 
as  my  thesis :  that  the  people  are  supreme  in 
this  Government,  and  that  they  have  the 
right  to  govern  themselves. 

Mr.  Goocir.  I  desire  to  ask  my  co.- 
league  whether  he  means  to  say  that  I  have 
ever  intimated  any  such  thing  as  he  sug- 
gests ? 

Mr.  THAYER.     What  ? 
Mr.  Goocrr.     That  I  was  afraid  you  would 
lose  your  place  here  on  account  of  your  posi- 
tion on  this  or  any  other  question. 

Mr.  THAYEU.  I  suppose  that,  on  account 
of  your  abundant  sympathy,  that  was  the 
case. 

Mr.  GOOCH.  When  the  gentleman  can- 
not find  something  that  exists  to  fight,  he 
fights  something  that  does  not  exist. 

Mr.  THAYER.  If  the  gentleman  wishes 
me  to  come  directly  to  the  point,  I  will  do  so. 
He  says  Congress  has  the  power  to  govern 
the  people  ;  and  he  complains  because  I  said 
that  Congress  might  exercise  that  power  by 
telling  the  people  of  a  country  when  they 
were  to  dig  clams,  and  when  not ;  and  might 
exercise  it  by  saying  whether  a  man  might 
marry  his  former  wife's  sister  or  not.  Now, 
I  ask  my  colleague  if  he  denies  that  Con- 
gress has  the  power  to  say  both  these  things  ? 
Mr.  Goocn.  What  I  say  in  regard  to  the 
matter  is  this :  that  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress 
merely  to  assist  these  people  in  organizing 
a  Territorial  government ;  not  to  dictate  to 


them  their  measures  of  legislation,  only  so  far 
as  that  they  shall  not  legislate  in  such  a  way 
as  would  be  against  the  best  interests  of  the 
people  of  the  Territory  and  the  whole  country. 

What  I  mean  to  say,  still  further,  is,  that  if 
a  Territorial  Legislature  shall  pass  any  law 
which  in  the  judgment  of  Congress  shall  be 
contrary  to  the  policy  or  theory  of  our  gov- 
ernment, or  which  in  the  end  would  place 
this  Territory  in  such  a  condition  that  it 
would  not  be  a  proper  subject  to  be  received 
into  the  Union  on  an  equality  with  the  other 
States,  then  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  in- 
terfere and  prohibit  or  repeal  such  law 

Mr.  THAYER.  I  think  my  colleague  has 
gone  on  far  enough. 

Mr.  GOOCH.     Then  I  will  sit  down. 

Mr.  THAYER.  That  is  right.  I  would 
like  to  know  what  kind  of  philosophy  it  is 
that  my  colleague's  views  are  based  upon.  Is 
it  the  philosophy  of  persecution  and  proscrip- 
tion, or  is  it  the  philosophy  of  Christianity  ? 
Does  he  suppose,  when  the  people  of  a  Terri- 
tory are  determined  to  act  in  a  certain  way, 
and  to  exercise  certain  rights,  that  by  legis- 
lating here  to  the  contrary  he  can  prevent 
their  acting  in  that  certain  way,  and  exercis- 
ing those  certain  rights  ?  Is  he  of  the  opin- 
ion that  he  is  going  to  convert  these  men  to 
what  he  considers  .right,  by  force  ?  Is  that 
his  idea  ?  Does  he  expect  that  if  they  love 
slavery  and  hate  freedom,  he  is  going  to  make 
them  good  Christians  and  good  freedom-men 
by  legislating  that  they  never  shall  have 
slaves?  Would  he  propose,  in  respect  to 
Christianizing  Hindostan  that  the  best  meth- 
od for  the  missionary  societies  would  be  to 
send  over  and  steal  their  idols  ?  Would  he 
make  them  Christians  any  sooner  by  legislat- 
ing in  Massachusetts,  or  here  in  the  Federal 
government,  against  idol  worship  in  Hindos- 
tan ?  No,  sir,  that  is  entirely  a  wrong  phi- 
losophy. You  cannot  legislate  religion,  or 
temperance,  or  Christianity,  or  heaven,  into 
any  people  under  the  sun.  No,  sir;  this 
must  be  accomplished  by  other  means.  Con- 
verts are  not  made,  especially  in  this  coun- 
try, by  force.  But,  sir,  it  seems  to  be  the 
cherished  opinion  of  some,  that  there  is  no 
other  way  of  making  converts  to  any  thins 
good,  except  legislation.  Now,  I  have  a  phi- 
losophy about  government,  and  the  duties  of 
government,  which  cannot  by  an}-  possibility 
accord  with  the  views  expressed  by  my  col- 
league. The  proposition  that  I  make,  as  com- 


prehending that  whole  pnilosophy,  are  very 
simple  and  are  only  two  in  number.  These 
are,  first,  that  the  first  duty  of  the  govern- 
ment is  to  let  the  people  alone  ;  and,  second, 
that  its  second  duty  is  to  prevent  my  col- 
league, or  anybody  else  from  interfering  with 
them.  [Laughter.] 

Now,  sir,  if  they  are  unable  to  work  out 
their  own  salvation,  it  is  putting  very  great 
burdens,  Mr.  Speaker,  on  you  and  me,  to 
work  out  the  salvation  of  all  the  people  of 
this  country.  You  and  I  might  be  the  only 
men  who  understand  in  what  line  and  in 
what  direction  this  great  salvation  lies.  How 
shall  we  accomplish  it  with  the  perverse  wills 
of  the  whole  nation  against  us? 

Now,  I  will  state  to  you  what  is  the  radical 
and  distinctive  difference  between  parties  in 
this  country ;  and  there  can  be  traced  to 
this  radical  distinction  every  measure  which 
occasions  any  conflict  in  this  House  or  in  the 
country.  That  radical  distinction  is  this: 
faith  in  the  people,  and  no  faith  in  the  peo- 
ple. It  so  happens,  and  it  wisely  happens, 
that  no  party  will  ever  control,  or  has  ever 
controlled,  this  government,  but  what  either 
exercises  this  faith  in  the  people,  or  makes  the 
people  believe  that  it  exercises  it.  [Laugh- 
ter.] 

Now,  sir,  I  challenge  any  man  to  contro- 
vert that  maxim.  It  has  not  been  done  here, 
and  it  cannot  be  done  here.  I  will  meet,  now, 
or  at  any  time,  any  man  on  these  radical 
propositions  of  government  which  I  now 
enunciate.  If  my  colleague  wishes  now  to 
make  any  explanation  of  his  views,  I  will 
listen  to  him.  [Laughter.] 

Mr.  Goocn.  I  have  as  much  belief  in 
the  ability  of  the  people  to  govern  them- 
selves as  my  colleague  or  any  other  man 
has ;  but,  sir,  when  I  look  to  our  Territories, 
I  say  that  those  Territories  belong  to  the 
people  of  the  whole  country ;  that  in  those 
Territories  every  individual  in  the  country 
has  an  interest;  and  I  believe  that  no  ten 
men,  or  twenty  men,  or  one  hundred  men, 
from  the  United  States,  or  from  any  foreign 
country,  have  a  right  to  go  there  and  build 
up  precisely  such  institutions  as  they  please; 
to  organize,  if  they  choose,  a  monarchical 
form  of  government,  and  build  up  institutions 
which  shall  make  the  States  to  be  formed 
out  of  those  Territories  unfit  ever  to  be  taken 
into  the  Union. 


53 


Mr.  TIIAYKR.  Now  I  understand  all  that 
my  colleague  is  going  to  say.  [Laughter.] 

Mr.  GOOCII.  Then  my  colleague  does  not 
want  my  views.  lie  has  had  enough  of  them. 

Mr.  TIIAYKU.  I  understand  all  that  he 
is  going  to  say.  His  propositions  are  these  : 
first,  that  every  man  in  this  country  has  an 
equal  right  to  the  territory  of  the  United 
States,  and  therefore  his  inference  is  this  : 
that  every  man  in  this  country  has  a  right  to 
impress  his  own  peculiar  views  upon  the  peo- 
ple wlio  shall  occupy  that  Territory. 

Mr.  GOOCII.  No;  my  colleague  mistakes 
my  theory.  My  theory  is,  that  the  people,  as 
a  whole,  own  the  Territories  ;  that  the  views 
of  the  different  individuals  shall  be  placed 
together  ;  and,  that  the  sum  of  all  the  opin- 
ions of  all  the  people  shall  prevail  in  the 
Territories. 

Mr.  TIIAYEK.  Well,  now,  that  would 
work  very  great  hardship  in  case  there  should 
be  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  men  of  one 
view,  and  one  thousand  men  of  the  other. 
The  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine,  who,  ac- 
cording to  his  assertion,  have  an  equal  right 
in  the  Territories,  would,  by  the  action  of 
one  man,  have  no  rights  whatever. 

Mr.  Goocir.  The  theory  of  our  govern- 
ment is,  that  the  majority  shall  govern.  Does 
my  colleague  deny  that  V 

Mr.  THAYKR.  And  all  this,  Mr.  Speaker, 
after  the  people  in  the  Territories  have 
bought  their  land  and  paid  for  it !  After  that, 
these  men  have  a  right  to  impress  them  with 
their  peculiar  views  on  politics,  religion,  on 
moral  and  mental  philosophy,  on  spiritualism, 
and  what  not.  There  is  no  end  to  what  we 
might  make  topics  of  legislation.  Well,  I  am 
not  for  making  these  things  topics  of  legisla- 
tion myself;  and  if  I  had  my  way  about  it,  a 
poet  never  would  write  a  platform  for  the  Re- 
publican party.  [Laughter.]  I  do  not  like 
metaphors  in  platforms.  I  want  them  prose  : 
or,  if  they  must  be  poetry,  I  would  like  to 
have  them  very  good  poetry. 

Now,  from  what  source  can  this  power  be 
derived,  that  enables  men  who  have  sold 
these  lands  to  people  who  are  their  equals  in 
every  respect — who  arc  citizens  of  the  United 
States  —  where  is  the  power  derived  from, 
that  gives  to  men  in  Maine,  and  Massachu- 
setts, and  Iowa,  the  right  to  say  what  institu- 
tions the  pioneers  shall  have  ?  But  I  am 
told,  with  grave  solemnity,  by  my  colleague, 
that  this  is  the  ancient  policy  of  this  govern- 
5* 


ment.  It  is  not  so  ancient  as  Satan.  [Laugh- 
ter.] It  is  not  so  old  as  Sin,  the  daughter 
of  Satan.  Its  age  is  no  reason  why  it  should 
be  forever  sustained.  It  is  old  enough  to  die. 

Mr.  GOOCII.  I  desire  to  ask  my  colleague 
whether  he  intends  to  place  the  framers  of 
our  government,  and  the  men  who  engrafted 
this  policy  on  the  Territories,  in  the  same 
category  with»'he  distinguished  individual  to 
whom  he  has  referred,  and  to  say  that  their 
work  is  on  a  par  with  what  he  terms  sin  ? 
[Laughter.] 

Mr.  TIIAYER.  No,  sir,  neither  them  nor 
my  colleague.  I  have  no  idea  of  doing  such 
a  thing.  But  I  do  say  of  the  men  who  framed 
this  government,  that  they  might  not  have 
been  perfect,  even  in  human  wisdom ;  and  I 
do  say,  contrary  perhaps  to  the  opinion  of 
many,  that  the  present  generation  is  not  less 
wise  than  the  past.  It  may  sound  strangely, 
but  any  man  who  denies  it  denies  faith  in 
God  and  human  nature.  No,  sir ;  I  contend 
that  we  are  degenerate  men,  unless  we  can 
inaugurate  a  better  policy  than  that  which 
has  been  inaugurated  one  or  two  centuries 
ago.  Have  we  not  improved  on  the  law 
of  promogeniture  ?  Have  we  not  improved 
upon  the  feudal  system  ?  But  this  idea,  that 
Congress  have  the  right  to  govern  the  Terri- 
tories because  they  have  sold  the  lands  to  the 
people  who  live  there  is  a  part  of  that  system.  i 

No,  sir;  I  tell  you  that  this  Territorial  policy ' 
has  been,  from  the  outset,  progressing  all  the 
while  in  favor  of  popular  rights.  The  first 
stage  in  our  Territorial  policy  was,  that  the 
President  should  send  out  the  executive  power, 
the  legislative  power,  and  the  judicial  power, 
for  every  Territory.  That  was  the  first  pol- 
icy. The  second  policy  was,  that  the  Presi- 
dent should  send  out  the  executive  power, 
the  judicial  power,  and  a  part  of  the  legisla- 
tive power  —  the  Council  —  while  the  people 
of  the  Territory  might  elect  the  lower  branch 
of  the  Legislature.  The  third  step  of  our 
Territorial  policy  was  this :  that  the  Presi- 
dent should  send  out  the  executive  and  judi- 
cial powers,  while  the  people  of  the  Territory 
should  elect  the  whole  legislative  power. 
And,  sir,  the  fourth  step  in  our  policy  was  — 
and  that  was  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill — that 
I  Congress  should  not  have  intervention  for  the 
I  revision  of  the  laws  which  the  people  in  a 
i  Territory  should  make,  although  by  that  act 
the  sovereignty  of  the  people  in  the  Territory 
was  held  in  abeyance  during  their  Territorial 


54 

condition,  subject  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  lieve  that  the  problem  -which  belongs  exclu- 
President.  j  sively  to  the  people  of  Texas,  or  exclusively 

Now,  sir,  the  step  which  I  propose,  which   to  the  people  of  Louisiana,  can,  by  any  pos- 


is  the  fifth  step   in    our   Territorial  policy,  is 
this :  that  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  shall 


sibility,  be  worked  out  to  a  satisfactory  and 
correct  result  by  the  people  of  Massachusetts 


be  active,  and   not  held  in  abeyance,  while  lor  the  people  of  Maine.     And  as  to  the  ques- 


the  sovereignty  of  the  President  and  the  sov- 
ereignty of  Congress  shall  be  held  in  abey- 
ance. This,  sir,  is  the  fifth  and  last  step  in 
our  Territorial  policy. 

"  Time's  noblest  offspring  is  her  last." 

This  policy,  sir,  is  the  Ultima  Thule  of  pop- 
ular sovereignty — the  pillars  of  Hercules,  sir, 
on  which  I  now  write,  in  letters  so  that  the 
world  may  read,  "  THE  NE  PLUS  ULTRA  OF 
ANGLO-SAXON  GOVERNMENT." 

But,  sir,  I  will  not  censure  my  colleague 
for  entertaining  any  fears  for  the  safety  of 
free  institutions,  which  he  may  choose  to 


tion  of  slavery  in  these  States,  I  believe  that 
the  Northern  people  have  no  more  business 
with  it  than  we  have  with  the  laws  of  primo- 
geniture in  England,  or  than  we  have  with 
the  institutions  of  China,  Hungary,  or  Tur- 
key. Not  one  whit  more.  "We  are  a  Con- 
gress of  nations,  to  all  intents  and  purposes ; 
we  have  no  business  each  with  the  sovereign- 
ty of  another,  nor  the  sovereignty  of  the 
whole  with  the  individual  rights  of  any  one. 
There  can,  then,  be  no  quarrel  between  the 
North  and  the  South  concerning  slavery  in 
the  States.  AVe  can  only  have  that  apple 
of  discord  in  our  Territorial  covernments.  I 


cherish.     I  can  understand  how  he  and  other  j  have,  therefore,  said  not  one  word  about  it  in. 


men  —  not,  perhaps,  of  the  most  bold  and  de- 
fiant disposition  —  may  claim  that  there  is 
danger  of  slavery's  grasping  and  destroying 
all  our  Northern  rights.  I  have  heard  of  an 
old  man  who  had  read  what  Herschel  had 
said  about  the  spots  on  the  sun  —  that  they 
were  increasing  ;  and,  sir,  he  looked  at  the 
sun,  to  see  whether  the  spots  continued  to  in- 
crease ;  and  he  kept  looking,  till  he  could  see 
nothing  but  one  black  spot  ;  and  then  he  died 
of  grief,  thinking  the  sun  had  gone  out,  when 
he  had  only  gone  out  himself.  [Great  laugh- 
ter.] These  timid  men  in  the  Northern 
States,  who  believe  that  slavery  is  going  to 
overspread  the  continent,  and  swallow  up 
Canada  and  Massachusetts,  get  blinded  by 
the  dazzling  light  of  all  our  free  institutions 
and  the  glory  of  our  nation's  progress  and 
history,  and  they  can  see  nothing  but  a  black 


they  fill  the  whole  earth  with  their  mourning. 
[Laughter.]  Now,  I  am  not  of  that  class  of 
men.  I  tell  you,  sir,  that,  reading  the  history 
of  this  country,  I  can  in  no  way  convince 
myself  that,  by  all  these  providential  triumphs 
over  British  aggressions,  by  all  these  provi- 
dences in  our  behalf  during  our  whole  his- 
tory, God  has  preserved  and  cherished  this 
nation,  just  for  the  purpose  of  allowing  it 
to  be  submerged  and  destroyed  by  disunion, 
or  slavery,  or  by  any  other  calamity  what- 


the  land  district  system  which  I  have  present- 
ed to  the  House  and  to  the  country.  I  have 
observed  my  promise,  in  them,  not  to  bring 
the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question  into  the 
House.  That  was  my  promise,  and  I  will  ob- 
serve it. 

But  my  colleague  says  we  must  send  out 
suitable  men  to  govern  these  Territories.  I 
suppose  they  have  no  suitable  men  there  !  I 
suppose  no  man  in  one  of  these  unorganized 
Territories  ever  heard  of  such  a  place  as  the 
State  of  Massachusetts,  or  that  my  colleague 
was  a  Representative  of  that  State  !  and  what 
do  they  know,  if  they  do  not  know  that? 
[Laughter.]  Suitable  men !  Men  who  can- 
not get  a  living  at  home  ;  men  who  have  not 
popularity  enough  to  be  re-elected  in  their 
own  districts.  Suitable  men  !  Who  are  the 
men  who  are  there  ?  They  are  men  who 
have  travelled  across  the  mountains;  who 
have  hunted  wild  beasts;  who  have  fought 
the  Indians ;  who  understand  human  nature 
better  than  any  man  can  possibly  do  who  is  a 
member  of  this  House,  from  the  experience 
of  a  quiet  life.  These  are  the  men  whom 
some  little  puckcred-up  lawyer  in  Maine 
or  Massachusetts,  with  his  feet  upon  the 
window-sill,  calls  "infants,"  while  he  prates 
about  "  our  parental  care."  [Great  laugh- 
ter.] 


Now,  sir,  I  have  no  kind  of  patience  with 
this  kind  of  argument,  which  goes  before  the 
Now,  sir,  I   have  faith  in  the  people  of !  country  assailing  the  character  of  the  men  of 
every  section  of  the  country.     I  do  not  be-  I  the  Territories.     But  if  this  were  all.  I  might 


55 


submit  to  it;  but,  adding  insult  to  injury,  it 
assails  their  common  sense ;  it  assails  their 
manhood,  calls  them  "  interlopers,  runaways, 
and  outlaws,"  and  in  every  way  wholly  unfit 
for  civilization  and  self-government.  What 
on  earth  did  God  make  such  men  for  ?  Now, 
sir,  I  will  yield  to  my  colleague,  if  he  wishes. 
[Laughter.] 

Mr.  Goocir.  My  colleague  has  been  in- 
dulging in  his  usual  style  of  fighting  wind- 
mills. 

Mr.  TIIAYEU.  I  was  fighting  my  colleague, 
Mr.  Speaker. 

Mr.  GOOCH.  My  colleague  has  not  stated 
any  argument  or  remark  of  mine.  What  I 
said  was,  not  that  these  men  were  inferiors ; 
I  said  they  were  men  just  as  capable  of  gov- 
erning themselves  as  the  people  of  any  other 
portion  of  the  country.  But  I  said  that,  at 
the  outset  of  a  Territorial  organization,  they 
had  little  or  no  knowledge  of  each  other; 
that  they  were  too  few  and  scattered  to 
enable  them  to  select  proper  officers  from 
among  themselves ;  and  that,  for  the  purpose 
of  starting  a  government,  they  should  have 
the  aid  of  the  General  government,  and  that 
their  first  executives  should  be  selected  by 
the  General  government,  instead  of  being 
selected  by  those  men,  whom  I  admitted 
might  be  the  equals  of  my  colleague  and  my- 
self. I  wish  my  colleague  would  reply  to 
what  I  did  say,  instead  of  replying  to  his  own 
fancies,  to  his  own  windmills,  which  he  sets 
up  for  himself. 

Mr.  THAYKU.  The  House  shall  judge 
whether  I  am  dealing  fairly  with  my  col- 
league. There  shall  be  no  mistake  this  time. 
I  understand  him  this  time  to  make  two  state- 
ments :  one  is,  that  the  people  are  too  few 
and  scattered  in  the  Territories  for  them  to 
establish  a  government  for  themselves.  Is 
that  correct  ?  [Mr.  Gooch  nodded  assent.] 
The  other  is,  that  they  are  strangers.  Is 
that  right  ?  [Mr.  Gooch  again  nodded  as- 
sent.] 

Now,  sir,  with  the  leave  of  the  House,  I 
shall  answer  both  these  propositions.  The 
first,  that  the  people  are  too  few  in  numbers : 
let  me  ask  my  colleague  if  there  is  more  dan- 
ger of  the  overthrow  of  good  government  in 
the  town  of  Paxton,  which  is  one  of  the  small- 
est in  my  county,  or  in  the  town  of  Hull, 
one  of  the  towns  near  Cape  Cod,  which,  I 
believe,  has  about  seventy-five  people,  than 
there  is  in  the  city  of  New  York,  or  in  the 


city  of  Baltimore  ?  Did  my  colleague  ever 
hear  of  a  riot  or  a  rebellion  in  the  patriotic 
town  of  Hull  ?  Has  he  not  often  heard  of 
riots  in  New  York  and  Baltimore  ?  I  put  it 
to  this  House,  whether  the  fewness  in  num- 
ber of  the  people  of  a  Territory  is  a  strong 
reason  why  the  government  of  the  United 
States  should  interfere  and  see  that  they 
should  not  blot  themselves  out  ?  Why,  every 
man  knows  that  our  republican  institutions 
are  in  the  most  danger  where  the  population 
is  the  most  dense.  Has  my  colleague  any 
thing  to  say  to  that? 

Mr.  Goocn.  My  idea  is,  that  there  is  more 
danger  of  institutions  formed  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  government  Avhere  there  are  few 
men  who  participate  in  that  organization, 
than  where  it  is  participated  in  by  many. 
And  again,  every  one  knows  that  the  people 
who  go  to  an  unorganized  Territory  go  from 
different  countries,  and  many  of  them  come 
from  foreign  countries ;  and  I  say  that  there 
is  more  danger  that  institutions  will  be  estab- 
lished there  not  in  accordance  with  the  theory 
of  our  government,  than  where  there  is  a 
larger  collection  of  people. 

Mr.  TIIAYER.  I  feel  the  whole  force  of 
that  argument.  My  colleague  has  shown  that 
if  there  was  only  one  man  in  a  Territory, 
there  would  be  very  great  danger  of  a  mob 
there,  and  an  overthrow  of  republican  institu- 
tions. [Laughter.]  Has  the  gentleman  ever 
read  the  history  of  France  ?  Has  he  ever 
heard  of  barricades  in  the  streets  of  Paris  ? 
lias  he  ever  read  Roman  history ;  and  does 
he  not  know  that  all  dangers  to  government 
occur  where  the  people  are  the  most  dense, 
where  they  are  packed,  where  they  exist  in 
crowds  ?  My  colleague  certainly  knows  all 
that ;  I  will  not  take  the  position  of  denying 
that  he  knows  all  that.  How,  then,  can  he, 
with  a  knowledge  of  the  history  of  this  coun- 
try and  of  all  countries,  claim  that  there  is 
the  greatest  danger  to  republican  institutions 
or  to  good  government  where  there  are  the 
fewest  people?  The  fact,  —  and  every  man 
knows  it,  —  is,  that  where  there  are  few  peo- 
ple, there  never  was,  and  there  never  can  be, 
any  great  danger. 

My  colleague's  other  proposition  is,  that  the 
people  are  strangers  to  each  other.  Does  my 
colleague  suppose  these  Yankees  are  like  the 
Frenchman,  who  would  not  save  a  drowning 
man  because  he  had  not  been  introduced  to 
him  V  [Laughter.]  Does  my  colleague  sup- 


56 


pose  the  Yankees  have  not  the  power  of  get- 
ting acquainted?  If  they  had  no  social  qual- 
ities whatever,  they  would  see  if  something 
could  not  be  made  out  of  an  acquaintance. 
[Great  laughter.]  Does  my  colleague  deny 
that?  [Continued  laughter.] 

Mr.  GOOCII.  I  do  not  deny  that,  if  they 
•will  only  let  my  colleague  get  up  an  organ- 
ized scheme  of  emigration,  and  put  the  Yan- 
kees there,  for  he  would  select  the  right  kind. 

Mr.  THAYER.  I  will  do  my  whole  duty  in 
that  regard.  [Laughter.]  Now,  Mr.  Speaker, 
what  is  there  in  this  humbug  of  Congressional 
intervention  that  commends  itself  to  the  peo- 
ple of  this  country  ?  Nothing.  Neither  you, 
sir,  nor  myself,  will  live  to  see  another  Ter- 
ritory organized  by  this  government  to  gov- 
ern our  fellow-citizens,  equal  to  you  and  to 
me,  in  the  Territories  of  this  Union.  The 
vote  in  this  House  to-day  has  shown  that  the 
people  are  tired  of  intervention,  and  of  all  the 
quarrels  that  hang  upon  it.  There  is  no  end 
to  those  quarrels ;  for  so  long  as  there  are  two 
views  in  this  country  concerning  freedom  and 
slavery,  so  long,  whatever  party  is  in  power, 
there  will  be  quarrels  concerning  Executive 
appointments  for  the  Territories ;  and  not 
only  concerning  those,  but  concerning  every 
act  which  those  executive  officers  may  do  in 
the  Territories.  There  will  not  only  be  quar- 
rels here  in  Congress,  and  quarrels  in  all  of 
the  States,  but  there  will  be  quarrels  among 
the  people  of  the  Territories  themselves  ;  for, 
sir,  they  enlist  under  party  standards  on  the 
one  side  and  the  other,  and  no  party,  by  any 
possibility,  can  ever  attempt  to  do  any  thing 
that  the  other  party  cannot,  will  not,  censure 
and  condemn.  There  will  be  these  constant 
partisan  quarrels  in  the  Territories,  and  they, 
with  various  reports  of  crimes,  of  murder  and 
robbery,  and  arson,  committed  by  Executive 
officials,  or  at  their  instigation,  will  be  brought 
to  the  notice  of  this  House,  and  parties  here 
will  range  themselves  upon  the  one  side  and 
upon  the  other,  and  we  will  have  bitter,  burn- 
ing animosities,  and  never-ending  disputes 
about  this  matter  of  non-resident  jurisdiction. 

This  is  a  kind  of  government  in  no  way 
consonant  or  consistent  with  our  institutions. 
It  never  had  any  business  under  the  stars  and 
stripes.  Now,  sir,  thank  Heaven,  it  is  ended. 
It  has  gone,  once  and  forever,  and  we  are 
no  more  to  know  it.  Whatever  we  may  an- 
nex hereafter,  I  say,  let  it  be  annexed  as  a 
sovereignty,  and  not  as  a  dependency.  We 


have  had  enough  of  this  history  of  dependen- 
cies. Let  us  have  no  more  of  it.  I  appeal 
to  honest  men  in  all  parts  of  the  House, — men 
who  love  the  country  more  than  they  love 
prejudice,  men  who  favor  the  institutions  of 
the  country  more  than  they  favor  part}-,  — 
now,  once  and  for  all,  to  settle  this  policy. 

Sir,  it  was  said  by  my  colleague,  with  a 
sneer,  that  I  had  joined  the  Democratic  party 
to-day  in  my  vote.  I  say,  that  not  only  the 
Democratic  party,  but  the  American  party, 
so  far  as  I  know,  without  an  exception,  and 
many  of  the  gentlemen  who  act  with  me  in 
the  Republican  party,  voted  to  lay  these  bills 
upon  the  table.  I  tell  you  that,  so  far  from 
being  denounced  for  our  action  by  the  people, 
we  shall  be  applauded,  and  the  country  will 
thank  us,  of  whatever  party,  for  having  taken 
this  perplexing  question  out  of  the  halls  of 
Congress.  From  this  time  we  will  enjoy  the 
luxury  of  attending  to  the  legitimate  business 
of  legislation. 

I  move  that  the  bill  be  laid  upon  the  table. 


These  comprise  all  of  Mr.  Thayer's  public 
speeches  as  a  member  of  Congress.  The 
reader  will  observe  that  the-y  discover  a  prac- 
tical man.  whose  views  are  likewise  consistent 
with  the  high  abstract  theories  of  government 
and  progress  under  which  we  have  become  a 
great  nation ;  and  as  such  they  demonstrate 
their  author  to  be  a  STATESMAN.  In  the  in- 
tervals of  his  public  service  and  private  occu- 
pations, Mr.  Thayer  has  established  a  vigor- 
ous and  thriving  colony  in  Western  Virginia, 
to  which  he  has  given  the  name  of  CEKEDO. 
It  does  not  lie  within  the  compass  of  this  pub- 
lication to  speak  any  further  of  this  prom- 
ising settlement  than  is  necessary  to  set  forth 
the  varied  energy  of  the  man  whose  public 
life  is  herewith  described.  The  plan  of  the 
establishment  of  Ceredo  is  precisely  that  by 
which  Kansas  was  colonized,  a  town  trans- 
planted by  the  very  simple  machinery  of  Or- 
ganized Emigration.  By  that  process  he  has 
built  up  a  large  settlement  in  an  unpopulat- 
ed district,  started  a  good  newspaper,  erected 
manufactories,  school-houses,  churches,  and 
stores,  given  an  impetus  to  agricultural  and 
mechanical  production,  set  up  a  hum  of  lively 
industry  where  solitude  once  reigned,  and  is 
making  the  desert  smile  like  a  garden.  Noth- 
ing but  Organized  Emigration  has  accom- 
plished it,  operated  by  his  clear  head  and 
energetic  will 


57 


Ceredo  enjoys  the  favor  of  the  people  of 
Western  Virginia  to  a  large  extent.  Mr. 
Thayer  was  told,  at  the  start,  that  the  popu- 
lation of  that  section  would  tolerate  no  such 
project ;  he  went  among  them  forthwith  and 
laid  his  plan  before  them ;  he  travelled  into 
Eastern  Kentucky  with  the  same  attractive 
story  on  his  tongue  ;  not  only  was  he  not  op- 
posed, or  interfered  with,  by  the  people  of 
that  section,  but  they  vied  with  one  another 
in  each  locality  with  their  friendly  offers  of 
reception  !  The  tables  were  at  once  turned. 
When  they  found  what  a  sensible,  and  safe, 
and  altogether  practical  idea  this  of  his  was, 
—  of  Organized  Emigration,  —  they  accepted 
it  with  eagerness,  feeling  that  it  was  the  true 
key  to  their  own  salvation.  lie  finally  pitched 
upon  a  location  in  Wayne  Co.,  Va.,  and  pur- 
chased a  tract  of  three  thousand  acres  of 
second  bottom  land,  two  miles  from  Big 
Sandy,  the  western  boundary  of  the  State. 
The  land  here  slopes  down  to  the  Ohio,  and 
is  adapted  to  the  establishment  of  a  city  of  the 
largest  size.  The  Covington  and  Ohio  R.  R. 
finds  its  natural  terminus  here,  and  is  to  be  a 
continuation  of  the  Virginia  Central.  Another 
important  railroad  is  also  in  "contemplation, 
only  seven  miles  below.  The  great  advan- 
tages of  the  locality  are  in  its  resources  of 
coal,  timber,  and  iron,  its  mild  climate,  its 
railroad,  and  especially,  its  river  navigation 
facilities.  So  great  a  change  has  been  made 
in  public  opinion  in  Virginia,  since  he  began 
the  work  of  founding  this  new  city,  that  at 
least  fourteen  of  the  State  papers  now  openly 
advocate  his  scheme.  Gov.  Wise  has  given 
it  his  public  approval,  and  no  press  says  aught 
against  it. 

The  speech  on  the  Central  American  Ques- 
tion only  foreshadowed  the  development  of 
this  same  emigration  plan  of  his,  which  fol- 
lowed upon  the  failure  of  the  raid  of  Gen. 
Win.  Walker.  The  speech  tells  the  whole 
story.  Under  the  provisions  of  the  Yrissarri 
treaty,  American  citizens  were  allowed  to 
reside  in  Nicaragua,  and  enjoy  the  immuni- 
ties granted  to  natives  while  still  under  the 
protection  of  their  own  government.  San 
Juan  del  Norte  and  San  Juan  del  Sud  were 
to  become  free  ports.  Our  merchants  were 
to  be  allowed  to  introduce  their  goods  on  the 
same  terms  with  the  native  merchants,  and 
have  the  same  rights  and  privileges.  The 
inter-oceanic  and  native  trade  of  Nicaragua, 
therefore,  offered  tempting  inducements  to 


our  men  of  enterprise.  All  that  Nicaragua 
wanted,  was  the  infusion  into  its  veins  of  the 
spirit  of  American  thrift  and  energy.  It  is 
immensely  fertile,  its  natural  productions  con- 
sisting of  indigo,  coffee,  sugar,  cocoa,  rice, 
and  cotton,  the  latter  being  of  better  quality 
than  any  produced  in  our  Southern  States; 
its  fruits  being  oranges,  lemons,  plantains,  and 
such  other  spontaneous  growths  as  make  the 
very  name  of  the  tropics  delightful.  Its  chief 
source  of  wealth,  however,  is  its  cattle,  large 
quantities  of  hides  being  exported. 

Under  a  new  spirit,  Nicaragua  may  be- 
come a  compact  and  powerful  little  common- 
wealth :  and  Mr.  Eli  Thayer  saw  it  as  quick 
as   Gen.  Walker  did.     But  he  would  go  to 
work  to    develop  its  resources,  and  make  it 
a  power,  in  a  totally  different  way.      The 
speech   on    Central   America   will    tell   the 
reader  how  the  two  men  differed  in  their 
ideas,  —  the  one  being  a  Christian  civilizer, 
the  other  only  a  barbarian  filibuster.     Mr. 
Thayer  set  to  work  on  this  new  problem  of 
"  Americanizing  Central  America  "  with  his 
usual  industry  and  resoluteness.      lie  sent 
out  a  body  of  colonists  to  establish  a  post  at 
the   Gulf  of  Fonseca,  on  the  Pacific  coast. 
The  stock  to  this  enterprise  was  taken  up 
eagerly,  mostly  by  merchants  of  New  York, 
who  are  engaged  in  Central  American  trade. 
From  its  favorable  position,  the  colony  will 
command  a  great  part  of  the  trade  of  Nic- 
j  aragua,   Honduras,   and    San    Salvador,  the 
population  of  these  three   States  numbering 
|  about  nine  hundred  thousand  souls.     The  re- 
sults to  that  region  must  be  of  the  very  last 
importance.     With  our  own  States,  too,  lying 
on  the   shores   of  the  Atlantic   and   Pacific 
oceans,  and  the  necessity  that  exists  for  the 
I  freest  possible  communication  between  them, 
!  this  new  emigration  project  of  Mr.  Thayer 
j  is  pregnant  with  grand  promises.     Its  very 
!  conception  betrayed  not  more  an  active  brain 
:  than  a  large  one  ;  not  more  shrewd  practical 
I  plans  than  large   and  comprehensive  ideas. 
I  While  others  were  fussing  and  fretting  over 
Walker,  and  it  was  likely  that  the  entire 
country  might  be  split  into  fillibusters  and 
anti-fillibusters,  Mr.  Thayer  comes   forward 
i  and  shows  how  the  knot  may  be  untied  in  a 
|  peaceful,  civilized,  and  truly  Christian  man- 
ner,    lie  drives  such  villains  as  Walker  out 
of  the  field  altogether.     lie  shows  us  a  new 
and  better  way  to   the   accomplishment  of 
manifest  destiny ;  the  road  being  lined  with 


happy  living  beings,  rather  than  strewn  "with 
the  corpses  of  dead  men.  It  is  better  to  be 
an  apostle  than  a  pirate  and  fillibuster. 


This  is  the  place  in  which  to  insert  ex- 
tracts from  the  leading  journals  of  the  coun- 
try, respecting  the  character  of  Mr.  Eli  Thay- 
er's  speeches,  and  his  own  character  as  a  man 
and  public  servant.  We  quote  into  these 
pages,  because  such  quotations  are  only  a 
fair  and  necessary  part  of  his  biography. 
The  St.  Louis  Democrat  says  of  him :  "  lie 
stands  forth  more  the  representative  of  the 
practical  Yankee  mind,  out-cropping  into 
sunnier  provinces,  than  any  other  from  the 
New  England  States.  His  modes  are  organ- 
isms ;  his  ends,  acquisitions :  he  gathers  (he  lau- 
rels of  war  with  the  appliances  of  peace  ! 

Says  "  SIGMA,"  in  the  Boston  Transcript :  "  I 
have  read  your  speech,  Mr.  Eli  Thayer ;  I 
cannot  come  all  the  way  to  Washington,  to 
thank  you  in  person,  but,  as  an  humble  citi- 
zen of  Massachusetts,  I  thank  you  from  the 
bottom  of  my  heart ;  and,  if  I  had  you  by  the 
hand  this  moment,  you  would  recognize  the 

cordial  grasp  of  a  New  Englander." The 

Chicago  Press  says :  "  Mr.  Thayer's  entrance 
upon  the  political  battle-ground  of  the  two 
antagonistic  social  systems  of  this  country  is 
opportune,  if  not  providential.  lie  appears 
just  at  the  time  when  Organized  Emigration 
has  become  essential  to  success.  *  *  * 
We  cannot  but  regard  him  as  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  men  of  the  times." The  Bos- 
ton Daily  Ledger  says :  "  A  democrat  in  the 
largest  sense,  he  is  desirous  that  none  but  the 
popular  cause  shall  prevail ;  that  is,  that  num- 
bers shall  be  heard  over  power  and  position. 
Such  men  will  be  in  great  demand  in  our  im- 
mediate future  as  a  nation." The  Law- 
rence Courier  says,  speaking  of  the  speech 
on  Central  America :  "  We  admire  it  for  its 
capacity  to  stand  alone.  It  traverses  an  old 
field  by  a  new  path.  It  takes  hold  of  slavery 
by  a  new  handle.  Under  the  whole  of  it 
is  veiled  an  Americanism  deeper  and  more 
pure,  broader  and  more  firm,  than  any  thing 

which  has  ever  yet  gone  by  that  name." 

Says  the  Albany  Evening  Journal:  "  You  can 
have  but  a  faint  idea  of  the  effect  of  Thay- 
er's speech  "  (the  one  on  Central  America). 

Says  the  Worcester  Transcript :    "  Mr. 

Thayer  has  already  become  a  part  of  the  his- 
tory of  our  times,  by  his  inauguration  of  this 


measure"  (emigration). The  Kennebec, 

Me.,  Journal  says:  "  He  is  a  fit  man  to  rep- 
resent the  heart  of  Massachusetts  at  this  em- 
ergency in  our  political  affairs.  Original, 
independent,  bold,  determined,  and  able,  he 
is  as  true  to  freedom  as  the  needle  to  the 
pole,  and  will  follow  her  flag  wherever  it  may 

wave  or  need  a  standard-bearer." The 

Kansas  Herald  of  Freedom  says:  "Mr.  Thay- 
er is  one  of  the  strong  MKX  of  this  country. 
He  grasps  readily  the  strong  points  of  a  pro- 
position ;  he  does  not  deal  in  abstractions, 

but  in  living,  practical  realities." Says 

the   Boston  Atlas  and  Dee :    "  Mr.   Thayer, 

therefore,  lays   hold  of  squatter  sovereignty 

I  as  a  means  of  preventing  the  extension  of 

I  slavery  into  the  Territories." The  Provi- 

J  dencc  Journal  says :   "  Some  opposition  has 
j  been   manifested   toward   the  re-nomination 
:  of  Mr.  Thayer.  because  he  is  in  favor  of  di- 
recting the  force  of  the  Republican  party  to 
practical  and  present  issues,  rather  than  to 
abstract  questions  that  will  not  rise  again, 
and  that  are  of  no  use,  except  to  quarrel 

about." Says  the  Granite   State  (N.  II.) 

Wing:  "We  glory  in  just  such  men  as  Eli 

Thayer :  men  of  work  as  well  as  words."  We 

I  might  extend  these  quotations  almost  indef- 

i  initely.     They  bespeak  for  the  author  of  the 

j  foregoing  speeches  a  consideration  to  which 

i  no  mere  politician,  and  certainly  no  ordinary 

man,  could  claim  a  title. 

In  the  character  of  Eli  Thayer  are  discov- 
ered certain  fixed  and   marked   traits,  that 
would  have  made  him  a  man  of  distinction 
wherever  his  lot  might  have  been  cast.     In 
the  first  place,  he  has  a  forccaste,  or  high 
wisdom,  that  enables  him,  from  the  stand-point 
he  occupies,  to  throw  his   observation  far  on 
into  the  future.     He  instinctively  knows  the 
I  laws  of  things,  and  therefore  is  not   tossed 
!  about  by  the  accidents  of  circumstances.  Next, 
I  he  is  in  the  habit  of  taking  a  broad  view  of 
matters  around  him,  and  of  placing  them  all 
in  their  right  relation  one  to  the  other.    Then 
he  is  possessed  of  a  gift  of  native  self-reliance, 
without  which  the  others  would  be  valueless. 
Seeing  so  clearly  and  so  widely  for  himself, 
i  he  abides  strongly  by  the  convictions  that  are 
!  thus  formed.     And  he  is  a  man  of  courage, 
too.     lie   dare   announce   and  carry  out  his 
convictions.     Here  is  where  so  many  of  our 
public  men  fail.     They  lack  just  that   one 
clement,  the  main-spring  of  the  whole,  that 
keeps  all  the  rest  in  motion.    But  what  forms 


59 


the  top  and  crown  of  his  character  is  his 
thorough  truthfulness.  lie  may  be  relied 
upon.  In  this  regard,  he  reaches  even  a 
chivalric  limit.  His  word  is  as  clear  as  his 
perception.  The  sun  shines  through  him,  and 
his  whole  nature  is  transparent.  And,  finally, 
he  is  one  of  those  rare  persons,  always  in  pub- 
lic demand,  however,  who  has  the  faculty  of 
talcing  hold  of  things  by  the  handle.  Somebody 
once  protested  to  Daniel  Webster  that  Mr. 
So-and-so  certainly  was  no  very  great  lawyer, 
and  he  wondered  why  so  much  was  said  of  his 
ability  at  the  bar.  "  I  won't  undertake  to  an- 
swer to  that"  returned  the  great  statesman, 
"  but  I  know  that  he  always  gets  his  cases."  So 
with  Eli  Thayer ;  his  enemies  may  stand 
about  and  dispute  whether  he  has  ability, 
judgment,  logic,  or  what-not  on  his  side, 
while  he  goes  ahead  himself  and  invariably 
"gets  his  cases."  He  is  a  successful  man, 
because  he  sees  things  as  they  are,  because 
he  subordinates  speculation  and  formalism  to 
fact  and  practice.  This  is  what  makes  him  a 
successful  teacher,  a  successful  man  of  busi- 
ness, a  successful  legislator  and  a  successful 
statesman.  No  man  in  New  England  to-day 
holds  out  a  larger  and  truer  promise  than  he. 
But  whether  his  walk  tends  in  the  direction 
of  politics  in  the  future,  or  in  some  other  per- 
haps more  congenial  to  his  temper  and  tastes, 
it  will  remain  as  his  monument  that  Eli 
Thayer  invented  and  set  in  operation  in  this 
country,  the  system  of  ORGANIZED  EMIGRA- 
TION ;  that  to  him  chiefly,  with  the  zealous 
and  generous  co-operation  of  such  minds  as 
Amos  A.  Lawrence,  J.  M.  S.  Williams,  and 
Dr.  Webb,  is  due  the  salvation  and  prosper- 
ity of  Kansas  ;  that  he  has  taught  the  nation 
the  magic  secret  of  building  up  states  in  a 


day ;  and  that,  above  all,  FREE  LABOR  is  both 
the  cope  and  corner-stone  of  all  our  boasted 
institutions.  Such  a  man  the  free  laborers  of 
this  country  will  never  refuse  to  honor.  None 
can  shake  their  confidence  in  his  character. 

As  a  leader  in  a  powerful  political  party, 
the  temper  of  Mr.  Thayer  may  best  be  summed 
up  in  his  own  language  :  "  Now,  what  should 
be  the  position  of  the  Republican  party  in 
this  conflict  ?  Should  it  be  that  of  a  sneak- 
ing coward,  running  away  from  the  slave 
power,  and  calling  upon  the  rocks  and  moun- 
tains to  cover  us  and  hide  us  from  that  power 
which  we  fear  is  to  overwhelm  the  world? 
No !  It  should  be  a  defiant  position.  We 
should  maintain  a  policy  that  is  positive,  and 
not  negative;  a  policy  which  is  aggressive, 
rather  than  yielding ;  a  policy  which  is  al- 
ways on  the  advance :  not  a  policy  which 
makes  us  the  mere  tools  to  record  the  doings 
of  some  other  party,  but  a  policy  which  in- 
itiates measures  and  carries  them  out.  I 
scorn  to  be  a  member  of  a  party  which  is 
content  to  be  nothing  else  than  a  writer  of 
the  history  of  some  other  party."  *  *  * 
"  I  scorn  to  be  one  of  a  party  to  be  merely  a 
herald  at  the  Olympic  games,  and  not  one  oj 
the  conquerors.  I  want  the  Republican  party 
to  be  the  conquerors,  and  not  the  herald  to 
give  the  name  of  the  conquerors."  Such  is 
the  man's  courage,  boldness,  and  resolution. 
He  is  an  advancing  man,  not  one  to  throw 
obstacles  in  the  way.  He  is  an  iconoclast, 
not  an  industrious  picker  up  of  the  pieces. 
Whatever  he  has  put  his  hand  to,  has  thriven 
as  by  magic.  He  throws  the  magnetism  of 
his  energy  into  all  his  projects,  and  others 
catch  the  spirit  and  help  render  them  suc- 
cessful. 


REMARKS. 


IT  is  due  to  the  subject  of  the  foregoing  sketch  and  author  of  the  speeches,  as  well  as  to 
the  reader  of  the  within  pages,  to  state  that  not  a  line  or  word  of  the  same  has  been  seen  by 
Mr.  Thayer,  previous  to  publication  in  their  present  form,  and  that  he  has  had  no  hand 
whatever  in  the  work  of  compilation.  The  facts  in  his  biography  have  been  collected  entirely 
from  publications  accessible  to  every  one ;  a  great  many  interesting  details  could  have  been 
secured,  had  the  compiler  thought  proper — which  he  did  not — to  solicit  them  of  Mr.  Thayer 
himself.  It  is  the  aim  of  the  present  pamphlet  merely  to  group  together  his  Congressional 
Speeches,  and  interweave  such  a  brief  biographical  sketch  as  any  reader  of  the  speeches 
would  naturally  call  for ;  the  one  acting  as  a  ready  key  to  the  other.  It  is  believed  that  they 
are  widely  called  for,  both  on  account  of  the  present  position  of  public  affairs  and  the  career 
of  the  man. 


BROWN  &  TAGGARD, 
au& 

NOS.  25  AND  29  COENHILL,  BOSTON, 

HAVE     BICENTLT      ISSUED 

CARLYLE'S     ESSAYS, 

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DR.  HAYES'  ARCTIC  BOAT  JOURNEY.— An  intensely  interesting  narrative  of 
Arctic  Life.  Fourth  Thousand.  In  1  vol.,  12mo.  Trice,  S1.25. 


IN      PRESS: 

THE  COMPLETE  WORKS  OF  FRANCIS  BACON, 

In  15  volumes,  crown  ectavo.     Price  per  volume,  cloth,  ??1.60. 

They  will  be  reprinted  from  the  recent  London  edition,  edited  by  James  Spedding,  M.  A.,  of  Trinity 
College,  Robert  Leslie  Ellis,  M.  A.,  late  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  and  Douglas  Denon  Heath,  Barrister 
at  Law,  late  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  aud  published  by  subscription.  One  volume  each 
month;  the  first  volume  to  be  issued  July  1st. 

A  Prospectus,  with  specimen  pages,  will  be  sent  to  any  address,  on  application;  and  those 
desirous  of  subscribing  for  the  works,  may  Fend  their  names  direct  to  the  Publishers. 

Persons,  thus  subscribing,  can  receive  their  volumes,  each  month,  as  issued,  by  mail,  postage  pre 
paid;  and  volumes,  thus  sent,  will  be  protected  from  injury  by  strong  wrappers. 

BROWN  &   TAGGARD,  PUBLISHERS, 

Boston,    Mass. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  L}BRAR> -FACILITY 


